Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop
Employer
6110 S 48th Ave
New Era, MI 49446
United States
Job description
Workers will perform assign duties as instructed by their supervisor,
Workers will perform manual labor to cultivate, maintain, and harvest various crops, including apples, pickles (cucumbers), asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, squash, and pumpkins.
Orchard Maintenance & Harvesting: For apple and peach orchards, workers will perform orchard maintenance and basic tree care, including planting trees, hand-thinning small fruit from branches, and pruning trees using hand tools. This work includes general field clearing—such as picking up rocks and roots, shoveling soil, and removing weeds, vines, and debris—to ensure grounds remain suitable for production. Harvesting apples and peaches requires the use of a ladder and a picking sack. Workers must carefully pick fruit by hand to avoid bruising, keep stems attached, and gently empty sacks into bins. Packing tasks include sorting fruit by color and size, folding boxes, and stacking cartons onto pallets.
Row Crop Cultivation & Harvesting: For asparagus, workers will ride on a picking cart or walk behind it to hand-snap spears at ground level, ensuring they are the correct length and placed neatly into lugs without pulling roots. During strawberry and blueberry seasons, workers will walk through rows to cultivate and harvest ripe berries by hand, following strict quality standards to prevent bruising. For pickles (cucumbers) and squash, workers pluck the vegetables to fill five-gallon buckets. Pumpkin harvesting requires cutting vines with a knife and working in a line to pass pumpkins weighing between 20 and 70 pounds.
General Duties & Maintenance: During periods when harvesting is unavailable due to weather, crop maturity, or other conditions beyond the employer’s control, workers will perform general farm and orchard maintenance incidental to agricultural production. These duties include tying and staking plants, pruning trees, and assisting under direct supervision with routine irrigation maintenance or minor repairs using hand tools only (no technical troubleshooting required).
General duties also include cleaning farm equipment, repairing wooden bins and pallets, and performing light cleanup of worksites and common living areas (e.g., trash removal) to maintain sanitary conditions and meet health and safety standards. All workers must be able to lift up to 70 pounds and perform repetitive movements such as bending, stooping, and kneeling for long periods. All work is performed under the direction of a supervisor, and training will be provided for all assigned tools.
Operation of farm equipment is a non-essential and incidental duty. On an occasional, infrequent, and very short-duration basis, workers may assist under direct supervision with the minor movement of a tractor, truck, or forklift within farm boundaries only. This assistance is limited to supporting field or material-handling activities. No prior experience, training, or specialized license is required at the time of hire. This assistance is not tied to productivity standards and will not replace or displace regular equipment operators.
Special Requirements
This type of work, involves working conditions that require tremendous stamina, a high level of physical activity in cold or extremely hot conditions in direct sunlight and in adverse weather such as rain. The work requires a high level of physical conditioning.