Orchard Workers

Crops include fruit and nuts, peaches, pecans, vegetables, trees, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, green beans, okra, squash, corn, pumpkins, zucchini, flowers, melons, aquaculture, and berries. Work includes tilling soil and digging holes at appropriate depths; transplanting; weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; cleaning, packing, and loading harvested products. Workers must have a general understanding of how pruning affects competition with fruiting wood and how thinning is done to provide nutrition to the developing fruit. Improper pruning can cause problems with fruit load, fruit size, disease severity, and overall production. Proper spacing as instructed is required when thinning, as well as which peaches are to be left or removed. Only specified fruit is to be picked as instructed, and desirable fruit should not be left on the tree, dropped, or removed from the ground. Workers must use care when picking, grading, and packing not to damage or bruise fruit; also, care must be taken not to break limbs or strip all peaches and leaves off of trees. Workers must harvest fruit of desired ripeness and use care when harvesting not to damage or bruise produce. Manually cultivate, harvest, grade, sort, and pack peaches. Discard inferior or defective products and/or foreign matter. Weigh products or estimate their weight, visually or by feel. Place products in containers according to grade and mark grades on containers. Record grade and/or identification numbers on tags or on shipping, receiving, or sales sheets. Mark and label containers, container tags, or products using marking tools. Measure, weigh, and count products and materials using marking tools. Examine and inspect containers, materials, and products to ensure that packing specifications are met. Record product, packaging, and order information on specified forms and records. Remove completed or defective products, placing them on conveyors or in specified areas such as loading docks. Seal containers using glue, string, nails, and hand tools. Peel, slice, and load materials and products into package processing equipment. Assemble, line, and pad cartons, crates, and containers using hand tools. Clean containers, materials, supplies, or work areas using cleaning solutions and hand tools. Stack boxes on pallets and run fillers. Grade, sort, or classify agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition. Plant, cultivate, tend to, and pick blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries; harvest pecans; plant, cultivate, and prune pecan trees; perform ongoing orchard maintenance; and plant, harvest, and perform ongoing maintenance of green beans, okra, squash, corn, pumpkins, zucchini, and flowers. Assist with Good Agricultural Practices policies. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker's ability to perform the job. Operate farm vehicles, implements, and equipment such as chainsaws, weed eaters, blowers, tractors, forklifts, mowers, bulldozers, backhoes, and other hand-held equipment to plow, harrow, fertilize soil, plant, cultivate, spray, and harvest crops. Workers who possess a valid driver’s license and meet all applicable legal requirements, including holding a doctor’s certificate as required by 29 CFR § 500.105, may be asked to drive vehicles for transporting workers, goods, or commodities on company business. This task is voluntary, compensable, and not a mandatory job duty. Workers without a valid driver’s license or doctor’s certificate will still be fully eligible for employment. The employer can and will make alternative arrangements for the transportation of workers should the need arise. Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.

Salary : $14