Farm Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
fruits, vegetables, honey.
Plants, cultivates, harvests and packs vegetables and fruits. Works on planter, plants roots, seeds and bulbs. May spread plastic or other groundcovering. Cultivates, weeds and thins plants. Transplants plants, riding on transplanter or by hand. May stake/tie plants, trellis/prune plants, and set poles and wires for vine plants. Picks, cuts, lifts, or pulls crop to harvest them. May tie vegetables in bunches or top them. Assist with irrigation and fertilization. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants. Assist with irrigation activities such as laying pipe, draining excess water from fields, check fields and monitor fields to maintain adequate water supply to crops. Install and maintain irrigation systems and water lines. Move and install irrigation pipes and equipment. Assist with fertilization. Assist with farm buildings/field maintenance and repairs.

Workers are expected to perform duties including grading, sorting, boxing, weighing, labeling, stacking, and loading/unloading of product. Workers will also ensure that all quality control processes/standards and production procedures are met.

Work is to be done in the field for long periods of time. Workers will assist in loading trucks with product weighing up to and including 60 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, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers' ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Workers may be required to work in hot, cold, and wet conditions and should have suitable clothing for the variable weather conditions.

In addition, workers may be required to perform variable tasks such as the following: irrigation, ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation, mowing, weeding and other tasks related to general farming. Clear debris from field and clean/maintain farm buildings, structures, equipment, and work areas. May drive and operate tractors, machinery, farm vehicles, and power equipment.

Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, chain saws, forklifts, skid loaders, and cultivator and other equipment safely. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction.

Workers may work with bee hives. Supervisor(s) will provide instructions and directions to workers. Workers must be able to comprehend and follow instructions and communicate effectively to supervisors. Access colonies to determine if it needs food, feeding bees. Making, painting and cleaning boxes, supering hives. Harvest/extract honey. Manipulate and service hive structures and haul bees to and from different hive locations to ensure healthy and productive honeybee colonies. Workers need to have no fear of bees and be non-allergic to pollen and bee stings.

A clean driving record (no major moving violations such as but not limited to Driving While Intoxicated or Reckless Driving) required to drive company vehicles.

Workers with appropriate licenses may operate general purpose vehicles to transport workers, equipment and product from one field location or facility to another, and transport produce to market. May sell products at retail outlets.

Employer has a strict prohibition on tobacco usage. No smoking or tobacco use of any kind will be permitted in the fields, in worker housing, or anywhere on company premises.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three months of verifiable prior agricultural field work experience handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Applicants must be able to furnish verifiable job reference(s) or comparable third party documentation from recent employer(s) establishing acceptable prior experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. Employer-paid post-hire drug and alcohol testing is required upon reasonable suspicion of use and after a worker has an accident at work.