Certified Orchard & Disease Mitigation Specialist

Job description

Perform specialized orchard establishment, maintenance, pruning, and plant-health work for apple, cherry, and other fruit trees. Inspect trees for fungal and bacterial disease, insect pressure, nutrient deficiency, winter injury, structural defects, and other conditions affecting tree health or fruit production. Identify affected trees and carry out approved cultural and organic-compatible disease and pest-management practices.

Prune young and established fruit trees using hand pruners, loppers, pruning saws, and pole pruners. Develop and maintain assigned tree-training systems, improve airflow and sunlight penetration, remove dead, damaged, or diseased wood, and support long-term tree health and fruit production. Sanitize pruning tools when disease risk requires it and remove or properly dispose of infected limbs, fallen fruit, mummified fruit, leaves, and other disease-harboring orchard debris.

Monitor orchard blocks on a regular schedule and maintain written or electronic records of tree condition, disease and pest observations, weather-related risks, pruning completed, treatments applied, and follow-up work required. Apply approved biological, mineral-based, horticultural, and other organic-compatible products according to label directions, employer instructions, applicable regulations, and required safety procedures. Calibrate, operate, clean, and maintain backpack sprayers, hand sprayers, and related orchard application equipment.

Plant, stake, tie, train, water, mulch, fertilize, and protect newly established fruit trees. Install and maintain tree guards, support systems, irrigation components, orchard fencing, and related orchard infrastructure. Perform grafting, limb training, fruit thinning, sucker removal, weed control, mowing, and other seasonal orchard-maintenance duties.

Operate tractors, mowers, utility vehicles, trailers, and other farm equipment used in orchard operations when authorized. Perform routine equipment inspections and basic maintenance. Work outdoors in varying weather conditions and perform repeated bending, reaching, climbing, lifting, carrying, standing, and walking while using orchard tools and ladders.

The orchard is located on an agritourism farm that is periodically open to families, children, customers, and other members of the public. While performing the primary orchard duties described above, the worker may have incidental contact with visitors. The worker must communicate courteously and professionally, answer basic questions concerning orchard activities when able, direct visitors to designated public areas, communicate orchard safety rules, and promptly report hazards or visitor-safety concerns to the employer.

When working in public orchard areas, the worker may provide limited assistance directly related to orchard operations, including explaining safe fruit-picking practices, directing visitors away from active equipment or treatment areas, and maintaining clean and safe orchard pathways. These visitor-contact responsibilities are incidental to the worker’s primary orchard establishment, pruning, cultivation, plant-health monitoring, disease-mitigation, and seasonal maintenance duties.