Farmworkers And Laborers

Job description

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor.
Duties may vary from time to time. Clearing ground of rocks, sticks & roots by hand, clear brush and trees with chain saw. General Field & fence maintenance. Use wood to build and repair boxes for digger. Manually weeding fields by hand or using hand tools. May drive tractor while pulling mechanical trans planter and implements including hipper disk, dual, chisel plow, bush hog and any other equipment related to planting, cultivating, and harvesting, sweet potatoes. Participate in irrigation activities. Set up, operate, and repair irrigation systems. Drain water from fields with hand tools and shovel when needed. The workers may use or operate the following tools and equipment: Skid loader, planter, digger, forklift, nail gun, power washer, drill, hoes, shovels, and sickle cutter. Work in extreme weather conditions. Must be able to work with minimum supervision. Planting Sweet Potatoes: Covering potatoes with plastic. Cut slips by hand with knife, place in boxes to load & unload onto trucks. Covering potatoes with use of bedding machine & cover, punch holes, and remove plastic and paper from plant beds. Dip potato slips. Walk behind potato trans planter and fill in slips by hand. Riding mechanical trans planter and loading slips in planting cups. Devining plants by hand. May clean potato shed/Storage, warehouse. Workers may be asked to do welding and torch work when needed.

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes: Use of mechanical digging equipment to dig potatoes. May harvest sweet potatoes by hand with use of buckets. Must be able to sort, grade & pack potatoes by size, quality, or type. Load and unload boxes on trucks, trailers, or sweet potatoes harvesters. Repair, maintain, and clean all hand tools and mechanical equipment prior to and after use. Build or repair barns, or potato shed. Workers may be asked to operate tractor, pulling mechanical digger. May also operate skid loader or forklift to load and unload trucks and trailers. May drive tractor trailer (semi-truck) to transport sweet potatoes from fields to the storage warehouse. * Safety training for use of farm equipment and tractors will be provided. To ensure the safety of all employees, those interested in operating machinery must be able to communicate with and adequately follow instructions given by management. Management reserves the right to restrict employees from operational duties who do not show proficiency to effectively communicate with management and may therefore place other employees’ safety in risk. Workers may also plant, cultivate, irrigate & harvest the following: soybeans, watermelons, wheat, corn, and rice. May load watermelons into bins and/or trailers at time of harvest. Workers with driver license may be asked to drive workers from/to housing, worksite, and grocery store. OFLC Administrator publishes new AEWR rates yearly and we reserve the right to adjust our job order to the new published rate with the exception of decreases. Raises and bonuses may be offered to any seasonal worker, at the employer’s discretion, based on individual factors including but not limited to, performance, experience, number of hours worked in the season, number of seasons worked with the company, adherence to work rules and ability to follow supervisor’s instructions.

Special Requirements

Valid Drivers License required to operate the companys vehicles. Must be 18 years or older. The company may conduct criminal background checks. Three months experience needed in hand cutting slips and use of mechanical trans planter and mechanical diggers, sorting and grading sweet potatoes. All tools, supplies and equipment will be provided at no cost to workers. The lifting requirement is 5-60 lbs. The majority of the workday is spent on ones feet and outdoors. Workers may stand in one place for any period of time. Workers must be able to climb, stand, sit, stoop, squat, kneel, crouch, bend (from the waist), push, pull, reach and lift. Work is performed in outdoor agricultural fields and involves exposure to sun, wind, rain, soil, mud, dust, heat, cold and other natural elements. Workers should expect periods of little/no work during growing/harvesting time. Workers may be offered more than the standard hours of work in a single workday. Workers may volunteer to work addi