Farm Workers

Job description

Plant, cultivate, harvest and pack cabbage, collards; plant, cultivate and harvest beans, potatoes and strawberries; harvest corn; plant, harvest, clean, and grade cucumbers, squash, okra, onions, beets, peas, greens, mustards, turnips, kale and pumpkins. Plant and cultivate eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. Use hand tools and agricultural equipment to plant, cultivate and harvest crops. Use hand tools including shovel, knife, post driver, hoe, hoe handle, clippers, and screw driver. Operate and maintain agricultural equipment. Prepare fields by laying plastic in fields, digging ditches for irrigation pipes, and hooking drip irrigation in fields. Green beans, squash, cucumbers, peas will be hand harvested according to supervisors instructions, placed into container and stacked onto pallets/wagons. Pick up pre-dug potatoes, place into container and stack onto pallets/wagons. Cut cabbage, box, or bag and stack on pallets/wagons and cut collards, bundle and place in container according to supervisors instructions. Hand plant and pick strawberries, place in box, and set on wagon/truck. Pick sweet corn off of stalk, place into bucket, and dump bucket into bin. Workers will walk along rows and cut pumpkins according to size, color, shape and degree of maturity using a knife. Place pumpkins in container. Hand harvest onions. Clip top and bottom of onion, place in bucket, once bucket is full worker will carry to dumper. Okra will be hand harvested using clippers, placed into container, and stacked. Beets will be hand harvested, tied in bunches, washed, and placed into container. Duties will also include staking, stringing and pruning plants.Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will be planted, tended, weeded, staked, strung and pruned. Stack and/or unstack containers onto and off of pallets. Workers must keep up with wagon/truck that is going down the rows during the planting and harvesting process. Clean and maintain fields including the removal of plastic mulch, stakes, strings, irrigation pipes, weeds and mow fields/grounds. Inform farmer or farm managers of crop progress. Greenhouse work may include loading soil in trays, planting seeds in trays, watering seedlings, moving trays from one greenhouse to another, transplanting seedlings in trays and loading trays for transport. Workers with licenses may drive the bus or other transportation vehicles to transport workers and may be offered additional work hours. Drivers who have received Osage Farms' training may drive tractors or side by sides in the field. Drivers who have received Osage Farms' training may drive forklifts to unload wagons. As a minor activity, workers may perform Christmas tree work such as clipping, cutting, baling, stringing, and loading trees. Activities will exclude harvesting eggplant, tomatoes and peppers.
Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a workers ability to perform the job. Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. Employer reserves the right to discharge an obviously unqualified worker, malingerer or recalcitrant worker who is physically able but is unwilling to perform the work necessary for the employer to grow a premium quality product, or for any other lawful reason.

Employer may request, but not require, workers to work more than the stated daily hours and/or on a workers Sabbath or federal holidays. Worker must report to work at designated time and place each day. Daily or weekly work schedule may vary due to weather, sunlight, temperature, crop conditions, and other factors. Employer will notify workers of any change to start time.

Workers should expect occasional periods of little or no work because of weather, crop or other conditions beyond the employer's control. These periods can occur anytime throughout the season.

Special Requirements

Three months of commercial farmwork experience required. Walk, bend, reach, kneel, stoop, and lift, carry and load up to 60 lbs repetitively. Work in adverse weather conditions including extremely hot, cold and/or wet weather. Employer is a drug free workplace. Drug testing is conducted post hire at the employer's expense and is not part of the interview process.