Farm Workers And Laborers

Job description

Barnhill Orchards is a small/medium sized farm with grows and harvests a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the seasons. Work varies day to day depending on crop. It is impossible to place a percentage to each task as the work is so varied and the workers are constantly moving from one crop to the next in order to plant, harvest, and perform field cleanup from February through December.

Field preparation (weeding and hoeing), manually plant, cultivate, harvest, grade, and pack berries, tomatoes, okra, corn, cucumbers, squash and melons. Transplant, thin, prune, stake and string crops. Clean and prepare fields for additional crops. During strawberry and blackberry seasons, workers will spend over 90% of their time picking berries.

Strawberry- Pre harvest: weed and remove dead leaves from plants, deploy and remove row covers. Harvest berries. Post harvest: remove plants, plastic and irrigation lines by hand. New crop: lay plastic and water lines, plant plugs.

Blackberries/Blueberries: prune and clean, pick throughout summer.

Peaches: Prune peach trees, haul out branches, thin fruit, pick peaches, maintain the orchard.

Other seasonal vegetables: plant greenhouse seeds, field plant seeds/plugs, lay plastic and water lines, plant, harvest, pack, transport to cooler.

Prolonged bending, stooping and reaching. Lifting 50# bags. Load and unload trucks. Maintain hoop houses. Maintain and repair irrigation systems. Perform work in extreme temperatures ranging from 32 to 100 degrees.

All tools and supplies needed are provided by employer at no cost to worker. Daily cleaning of their work areas. Workers should be fast with their hands and very agile. Workers will be using clippers to harvest many of the vegetables.

Special Requirements

Worker will lift and pull irrigation lines and plastic mulch from the fields at various times throughout the season.
Worker will be exposed to temperatures ranging from 32 - 100 degrees.
Worker will utilize repetitive motion in picking fruit and vegetables.
Worker will perform tasks requiring extensive pushing and pulling, to include clearing limbs and branches from the orchards.
Worker will be required to walk crop rows during harvest, planting, and cultivation for long periods of time.
Worker will perform extensive stooping and bending in the harvest of berries and vegetables.