Orchard Worker
Employer
1284 Town Hill Road
York Springs, PA 17372
United States
Job description
This job requires a minimum of 3 months of agricultural experience, preferably working in an orchard handling both manual and mechanized tasks including associated with commodity production and harvesting activities. Workers must be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks with accuracy and efficiency. Plant, cultivate and harvest fruits. Use hand tools including, but not limited to: shovels, hoes and knives. Plant trees. Spread plastic or other ground-covering. Clean covering by hand from ground upon removal. Till soil. Weed and thin plants. Transplant trees by hand. Stake/tie trees, trellis trees, and set poles and wires for trees. Pick, cut, lift, or pull crops. Grade, size and field pack product. Take care to prevent damaging produce and plants. Work in fields. Spread and remove ground covers as well as cut, and weed fields. Perform ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation, and other manual tasks. Bending, stooping and kneeling required. Use hand tools including but not limited to hoes, shovels, shears, clippers, loppers, and saws. Lift, carry, and load/unload products or supplies. Assist field maintenance and repairs and assist with other farm/orchard related activities as directed. Planting: Plant trees by hand or mechanically. Clear cull stock, brush, stones and debris. Dig holes and shovel soil. Straighten trees to correct row and inter-row spacing. Pack soil around tree. Tree Training: hoeing, tree painting, tree guard installation, weed mat application. Tie/position trees and limbs, together and to trellises, using string, tape, wire or other fasteners and supports. Thinning: Hand thin to control the size and quality of fruit. Remove fruit blossom, bud and/or identifiable fruit from within a cluster of other fruits. Must accurately identify and remove misshapen, damaged or otherwise unmarketable fruit. Pruning: Hand pruning based on fruit variety. Use manual and mechanized pruning tools and equipment. Identify and remove stubs or broken branches, downward-growing branches, branches rubbing against each other, shaded interior branches, other undesirable branches, dead wood and shoots-suckers. Use/handle ladders up to 16 ft. in length and weighing up to 30 lbs. Harvest: Spot and/or strip pick fruit based on seasonal need. Snap fruit off tree with thumb and palm of hand to avoid stem pulls, punctures, bruising, or other damage. Pick culls and peelers. Fill fruit buckets and place fruit in bins. Follow supervisor/foreman's instructions on color/size requirements. Must be able to differentiate between colors and fruit varieties accurately. Supervisors will explain and demonstrate picking requirements to all workers at the start of the season and as needed thereafter to ensure quality standards. Bruised or damaged fruit will be noted by supervisor(s) in a post-inspection quality report. Supervisors may issue written disciplinary notice to workers with a significant number of culls, bruised, or damaged fruit. Repeated failure to follow quality control instructions may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.
Special Requirements
This job requires a minimum of 3 months of agricultural experience, preferably working in an orchard handling both manual and mechanized tasks including associated with commodity production and harvesting activities. Workers must be able to perform manual and mechanized tasks with accuracy and efficiency. This job requires continuous physical movement and/or lifting of objects weighing up to 60 pounds as various farm or harvest tasks are preformed. Some movements, such as but not limited to harvesting apples, are repetitive as the individual must reach out, hand
pick, and place in the picking bucket each piece of fruit. Other repetitive motions include but is not limited to bending over to carefully empty a full picking bucket into the bulk bins in the orchard, ensuring that the fruit does not damage surrounding fruit in the bins when emptied from the picking bucket.