Farmworkers And Laborers

Job description

The farm work position includes duties associated with the harvesting and maintenance of tobacco. This work can require standing, walking, stooping, bending, and lifting up to 75 pounds for long periods of time outdoors in all weather conditions. It also includes making important decisions based on size, coloring, and ripeness according to prescribed standards.

This work requires adherence to important food safety and quality standard operating procedures and the ability to work quickly and consistently alongside fellow workers with a positive, professional, team-based attitude and a consideration for the safety and health of fellow workers and end consumers.

Job Specifications
Tobacco: Harvest workers will move into a row of mature tobacco plants. The tobacco plant may be from 4 to 6 feet tall and spaced about 20 inches apart in each row. Starting at the bottom of the plant, the worker will bend over at the waist and pick the bottom two or three leaves from each plant. Staying bent over, the worker will move down the row of mature tobacco repeating the above process. The bottom leaves may be as low as two inches from the ground. The worker will place the picked leaves under his arm. Once the worker has gathered an armload of leaves, he will carry it to a field sled. The leaves must be laid neatly onto the field sled. The worker will then return to the row and repeat the process. All workers must be able to distinguish ripe tobacco by observing the color of the leaves. Care must be exercised to prevent breaking of the plants. Workers must be able to move quickly along the rows and move in unison with the field sleds. Workers must remove all flowering tops and suckers from tobacco plants. Workers will assist in removing tobacco from barn and baling it to be loaded on trucks. Workers are required to work in fields when tobacco leaves are wet with dew or rain. Worker should be able to stand for prolonged periods of time to prime (pull) leaves, which are from two to ten inches from the ground. Workers may be exposed to noxious plants, insects. Workers will be required to spread tobacco evenly by hand to conveyor belts, pick trash from harvested leaves, put in curing bins, push and pull curing bins and open and close curing bins. Workers must be able to pin a curing bin correctly. Cured leaves will need to be picked up and placed on picking line. Proper training will be given in operation of a baler.

Workers will participate in transplanting, seeding, weeding, plowing, drainage, any tasks growing out of the above activities. Employees will be provided with hoes, shovels, tractors, plows, etc.

Field Maintenance: Workers will be responsible for general field maintenance. They will rake up debris from the land such as sticks, straw, etc. They will be responsible for the removal of old and unproductive plants. They must take care to not damage or destroy other plants or property in the area. Workers involved in field maintenance may be required to perform various tasks such as mending fences, irrigation, ditching, hoeing, spreading fertilizer, picking up roots and limbs, stripping suckers or unwanted growth from plants, weeding, and using hand sprayers in fields.

Farm, Field, and Barn Sanitation: Workers may be responsible for picking up trash, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping and mopping floors, and other similar farm and barn sanitation as part of SOPs and SSOPs within Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Handling Practices (GHPs), and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for Food Safety. This includes personal hygiene and handling the fruit in the field and barn with an emphasis on food safety and keeping the fields and barn as clean as possible.

Special Requirements

The employer may conduct drug/alcohol testing post-employment and at the employer's expense.

The employer may conduct criminal background checks post-employment and at the employer's expense.