Farm Worker

Job description

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor. Duties may vary from time to time and may include all of the following job specifications:
Workers will be assigned any or all of the following tasks and functions as needed by the employer: harvest and/or pack various crops in the field, load the trucks in the field and/or wash, grade and pack crops at the packing house, forklift driving, box stacking, icing of crops (harvested commodities) in the packing house ice room, pulling plastic in the field and loading/unloading plastic in the field, and non-harvest activities listed in the attachment.

Harvest and pack crops in field: Worker will walk down assigned rows and cut at the appropriate height from the soil or pull crops from ground, discard poor quality crops, rubber band or apply twist ties as needed or required by the customer or employer, and place required quantity in assigned container and take and load onto the field truck. Workers will be given barcode stickers to affix to the boxes, crates, RPC's, and bins as they are packed in the field or the packing house. When harvesting radishes and beets the harvesters will be given a sticker for each type of harvest occurring and are scanned. The washing / packers will place barcode stickers on every unit packed and scanned. Barcode scanners will be used to scan all units and account for the workers piece rate with the exception of radishes and beets, where either barcode stickers or tokens will be used. Tokens will be given to each worker for each unit of beets or radishes that is harvested and packed when barcode scanners are not working. All piece rates include putting the box/crate together. Unloading of the truck is done at the packing house, by a forklift driver.

Wash, grade and pack crops: Worker will wash field crops to remove dirt and grade for quality and then pack the necessary quantity in the assigned box.
Forklift driving and stacking boxes of crops in the packing house and icing of various crops in the packing house ice room.

Pulling plastic from the fields during the cleanup stage of the season after all crops have been harvested. Loading and/or unloading of the pulled plastic onto and off of a truck after it has been pulled from the fields and disposed of in the location directed by the crew foreman. Various non-harvest activities such as, but not limited to weeding, thinning, staking, tying, seeding, planting, tractor work, driving of van or bus, occasional heavy equipment operation, field cleanup, irrigation maintenance, packing of crops, equipment maintenance, etc. as directed by the employer.

The employer will provide the picking containers and other necessary tools to perform the described job duties without charge to the worker. The employer will charge the worker reasonable costs related to the workers refusal or negligent failure to return the tools or due to such workers willful damage or destruction of the tools. The worker must be physically able, with or without reasonable accommodation, to fulfill the essential duties described herein that also require the worker to be able to lift 75 pounds for long periods of time, work in hot, humid weather (including work when the heat index is 110 degrees for sustained periods) and in cold, wet weather, bending and stooping to harvest crop and perform pre-harvest activities.