Farmworker: Diversified

Job description

Crops: Watermelons, Cantaloupes, Sweet Corn, Pumpkins, Gourds and Hemp
Sanitation Requirements: For food and general personal safety purposes, all workers will be required and expected to follow common sanitary practices at all times. This is particularly critical when hand harvesting crops for human consumption. Employees are required to cleanse their hands by washing them thoroughly with soap and water after using the bathroom and before entering the fields for harvest activities or the packing facility for packing operations.

Workers will perform various duties to plant, cultivate harvest, pack, grade, repack produce grown on the employer’s farm. This may include preparing ground/field for planting by removing rocks, sticks, trees, and brush. Workers may also be required to install and move irrigation pipe/systems. Workers may be required to start various plant and bedding plant seedlings in a greenhouse. Workers will pack, grade and repack produce, load trucks, and perform maintenance on the farm including mowing, using backpack sprayers. Workers must follow their employer’s instructions to ensure all sanitation procedures are followed.

Cantaloupes, Pumpkins, Gourds, Pie Pumpkins, Squash and Watermelons: Workers will be expected to punch and make holes to prepare the black plastic for planting plugs. Workers must be careful not to damage the tender young plugs. Workers will be expected to perform routine maintenance activities including pulling weeds and cleaning drip irrigation equipment. At harvest, workers will be expected to select the melons based on the standard disclosed to the worker by the supervisor. Workers will walk along rows and cut melons according to size, color, shape, and degree of maturity using a knife. May carry to trailer or windrow for loading at a later time. Also, the workers will be expected to grade, sort, and place in shipping containers. After harvest is completed, workers will be required to remove mature melon vines from the plastic as well as preparing the plastic for the next planting cycle, if applicable. May also be required to remove old or damaged plastic and irrigation drip tape along with any other trash, rocks, or debris from the planting areas. Workers will assist in preparation of field areas prior to installation of new plastic and drip tape.

Sweet Corn: Workers will plant, cultivate and harvest vegetables. Workers will be required to remove weeds by hand or with a hoe. Workers will bend and stoop to pick vegetables according to size, color, shape and degree of maturity and place into field containers. Workers may carry full container weighing approximately fifty (50) lbs. and empty into field bin or load onto trailer. May be required to pull and discard culls as directed by supervisor. Pickers will take care not to bruise or scar produce. Works may also be required to cut corn stalks and bundling. Pre-harvest activities may include staking, tying, training, transplanting, cutting with bundling and pruning. Workers will stand on feet for long periods of time. Workers are required to work in fields when plants are wet with dew or rain. Temperatures in fields during working hours can range from forty (40) to over one hundred (100) degrees.

Hemp: Workers will plant cultivate and harvest industrial hemp.

Tractor Operation During Field Operations
During field operations workers may be required to drive a tractor pulling a wagon through the field or between fields incidental to the job being performed. Workers may also operate various farm licensed vehicles, and farm equipment (including sprayers, forklifts etc.). Workers will be instructed in the safety and operation of the tractor before driving the tractor. Works will also perform maintenance of farm equipment. Tractors should be driven in a manner to protect operator, other workers, products, trees, crops, and equipment. Repeated failure to obey safety requirements and operating instructions may result in termination.

Special Requirements

Must have three months experience hand harvesting a perishable crop. Applicants must be able to furnish affirmative job references from recent employers. Must be physically able to meet and perform all job specifications stated in job order. Must be able to work in the hot humid weather for extended periods of time. Workers are subject to random drug testing at no cost to the employee. All drug testing will occur after the worker begins his or her employment and is not a part of the interview process. Failing or refusing a drug test will result in immediate termination.