Farm Laborer
Employer
3956 Red Boiling Springs Road
Lafayette, TN 37083
United States
Job description
Workers will clean the areas around the greenhouses and float beds to keep free of weeds and debris. And will help to keep the plants trimmed back before setting time, by using a lawn mower on a track system that is pushed and pulled along the float beds. During the setting process, workers will ride a four row setter, feeding the tobacco plants into rubber shoes, that insert them into the ground. This process requires long periods of sitting and loading trays from wagons onto the setter. Workers will rotate following the setter on foot to check for plants that may have fallen out or gotten missed and replanting them by hand. Workers will "chop out' the tobacco, this involves walking the rows, with a garden hoe, and chopping the weeds out between the plants. Topping involves walking the fields of rows and breaking off the top couple of inches of the plants that blooms out. Cutting/spiking/hauling- Workers will use a tobacco knife to cut the plants at the bottom of the stalks and piling them into sections of (6) plants, then going back to place those plants onto wooden tobacco sticks using a metal spike, then standing the stick up in the ground. After 2 or 3 days, the workers will haul the sticks by loading them onto wagon/trailers, then hanging the sticks into large barns, sectioned off by tear poles. Workers must be able to lift 50 to 60 pounds, repeatedly. Stripping- workers will take down the sticks of tobacco from barns, remove the stalks, and place into piles: workers will remove/tear the leaves from the stalks, learning to grade into (3) piles by color and looks, then bundled into large burlap bags, tied, and tagged with numbers for baling. Workers are expected to bundle/tie up their tobacco sticks, discard empty stalks onto wagons, and be responsible for their bags, plastic, and cleaning up the barn after stripping. Workers will help with the baling process, by putting the leaves into large baling machines that compress tobacco into bales and weighs it. Workers will do basic farm jobs( cleaning, fencing, mowing, weed eating, etc. ) during the between times of tobacco processes, to help ensure their 3/4 guaranteed hours of their contracts. Lifting, bending, and repeated movements are ALL requirements of tobacco labor workers.
Special Requirements
Workers will be trained by employer before each phase of the tobacco processes, so that they are familiar with equipment, that is provided, and that they understand each process.