Farm Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
vegetables, including but not limited to, pumpkins, gourds, pie pumpkins, beans, peas, squash, pickles, okra.
This job requires a minimum of 3 months of prior agricultural field work experience, preferably on a vegetable farm, handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Workers must be able to perform manual as well as mechanized activities with accuracy and efficiency. Plants, cultivates, harvests and sorts/packs vegetables. Works on planter, plants roots, seeds and bulbs. May spread plastic or other groundcovering. Weeds, thins plants. Transplants plants, riding on transplanter or by hand. May set poles and wires for vine plants, stake/tie, trellis and prune plants. Picks, cuts, lifts, or pulls crop to harvest them. May assist with irrigation. May operate and help maintain tractors or hand-operated equipment. May assist with general farm building maintenance. Workers must be physically able to perform seeding, planting, mowing and heavy lifting. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants.

Workers must be able to pick:
3 36-inch tall bins of large pumpkins per hour
1 24-inch tall bin of mini pumpkins per hour
1 24-inch tall bin of gourds per hour
2 24-inch tall bins of pie pumpkins per hour
5 dozen carrots per hour
5 dozen beets per hour
1 bushel beans per hour
2 bushels pickles per hours

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

Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, cultivators and other equipment. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction. Workers must obey all safety rules and basic instructions and be able to recognize, understand and comply with safety, pesticide warning/re-entry and other essential postings.

Work is to be done for long periods of time. Workers are expected to perform duties including boxing, weighing and loading of product. Workers will assist in loading trucks with packaged product weighing up to and including 80 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet for long periods of time. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker’s ability to perform the job. Work required in fields when plants are wet with dew and rain, and may be required during light rain, snow, moderate winds, direct sun, high humidity and extreme temperatures. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 degrees 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. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 80 lbs.

Employer assures that workers will be provided, at no cost, transportation from living quarters to work site every day (for workers who must be provided housing under the applicable regulations).

Persons seeking employment as experienced farmworker must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. All workers will be subject to a trial period of up to five days during which the employer will evaluate workers' performance of required tasks. Employer reserves the right to terminate a worker if the employer reasonably finds worker's performance during the trial period to be unacceptable.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of 3 months of prior agricultural field work experience, preferably on a vegetable farm, handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 80 lbs.