Farmworkers & Laborers & Agricultural Equipment Operator
Employer
5459 VT 116
Starksboro, VT 05487
United States
Job description
All applicants must be able, willing and qualified to perform the work described in the job order and must be available for the entire period of employment specified in Section A.3 & A.4. Hop season starts in late-march and goes through early- November. Working for hop production will include preparing beds, stringing, training, irrigation management, fertility, pest/weed management, and harvesting. The first few months (late March - mid June) will consist mainly of repetitive work, including harvesting and planting new rhizomes, setting up irrigation lines, “stringing”, and “training”. “Stringing” involves securing strings to the top of a trellis (using a lift) and then gathering pairs of strings and securing them to the ground using a clip and stomping tool. “Training” involves selecting the most productive hop bines and wrapping them by hand around each string. Mid June through early August gives us time to catch up on general farm upkeep, including weeding and maintaining the health of the plants through collecting various plant data metrics, fungal/pest surveys, and a proper fertilizer regimen. Since there is less farm activity to do during this part of the season, it is a good time to catch up on light construction and maintenance projects. Harvest season is mid-August through late September and will require longer workdays to get everything harvested on time. Harvest activities will primarily take place in our on-site processing facility. Bines will be cut down in the field by a tractor and wagon loads will be brought to the processing barn. Individual bines will be pulled from a pile and fed into picking machines that sort waste material from finished hop cones. Cones are loaded into dryers in bins using a forklift. The temperature needs to be monitored throughout the drying process. Hops may need to be mechanically stirred, and moisture levels need to be taken to determine when they are ready. Dry cones are unloaded from the kilns using nets and are raised up to a conditioning room using a forklift. Once, conditioned, hop cones are pushed into a baling shoot where they are pressed into 100 to 150-pound bales using a baling machine. Full bales are sewed shut, weighed, and moved into a freezer with the aid of a hand truck. All areas of the processing facility and equipment must be swept and cleaned at the end of each harvest day. The last few weeks following harvest allow us to clean up from processing, clean and repair equipment and organize the hop yard for the following spring. Some activities include washing machinery, cleaning and rolling up irrigation lines, and removing bits of string that are left hanging from the trellis. Some workers will be responsible for pelletizing the baled hops post-harvest. This involves operating equipment for breaking up bales of hop cones, grinding them into a fine powder, running them through a pellet mill, and bagging and vacuum sealing finished pellets. All employees will be trained on the use of this equipment. Workers may be asked to operate trucks or other multi-purpose vehicles to transport workers from housing (whether on or off farm) to the farm properties; haul tools, supplies, or crops; transport workers from place to place around the farm properties during the workday (including on public roads to reach farmer's fields); and/or transport workers to the grocery store, bank, or laundry facilities on an as needed basis. Workers that are requested to drive will be required to possess a valid driver’s license; no worker will be rejected for not having a driver's license. Workers who do drive will still perform the same field work and other duties as non-driving workers; driving is not a primary duty. The work assigned will be physically demanding, walking, bending, stooping and kneeling for long periods of time will be required. Workers must be able to lift and carry 50 pounds frequently.
Special Requirements
NONE