Produce Field Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
vegetables including, but not limited to, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, eggplant, squash & onions and strawberries.

This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working on a vegetable crop farm handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Manually plant, cultivate and harvest vegetables.

Work in fields. Prune, plant, cultivate and hand-harvest produce. Spread and remove ground covers. Place and monitor bug traps. Pick/harvest produce according to quality standards. Load/transport harvested produce.

Use hand tools, such as trowels, hoes and knives. Work on planter, planting roots, seeds and bulbs. May spread plastic, heavy tarps or other ground covering and clean by hand plastic and drip irrigation tape from ground upon removal. Cultivate, weed and thin plants. Transplant plants by hand. May stake/tie plants, trellis/prune plants, and set poles and wires for vine plants. Pick, cut, lift, or pull crops to harvest them. Workers will field grade and size product according to employers quality standards. Repair drip irrigation piping and connections. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants. Workers may assist with general maintenance of grounds.

Use power equipment including but not limited to: tractors, planters, mowers, plows, sprayers, cultivators, power shears, chain saws, high lifts, fork lifts, skid loaders. Must operate agricultural equipment safely, with or without direction. Assist with farm building/field maintenance and repairs. Build/repair fences.

Workers are expected to perform duties including field boxing and transport of produce to the wash/pack area, which may involve lifting product weighing up to and including 80 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet for long periods of time.

Workers will be required to harvest crops by hand and work in the fields for long periods of time. Workers must be able to work on their feet in bent positions, and must be able to bend and stoop for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, fish emulsion and other minerals and chemicals, etc. may affect workers ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 0 to 90+ F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations. To be qualified for this position, a worker must be willing to perform the considerable manual labor required on such a farm.

In addition, workers may be required to perform variable tasks manually such as the following: ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation, shrub removal, wood cutting and hauling, irrigation and other tasks related to general farming.

Farm workers are required to follow all farm food safety handling policies as well as general farm and safety policies.

Employer has a strict prohibition on tobacco usage. No smoking or tobacco use of any kind will be permitted in the fields, in worker housing, or anywhere on company premises. This is necessary to maintain the integrity of the farms organic production certification as well as to protect against the Tomato-Tobacco Mosaic Virus disease, which is transmitted by hands and tools contaminated with tobacco by-products. Employer reserves the right to discharge any employee found smoking or found in possession of smoking materials including cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco or smoking paraphernalia.

Apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other crop protectants.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working on a vegetable crop farm handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 80 pounds.