Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

at D & K Harvesting in Elmwood, Illinois, United States

Job Description

The job requires a minimum of three months of experience in tasks associated with farm experience. In order to perform this kind of work must be able to work outside for at least six-6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and be in possession of the requisite strength and endurance, working quickly and skillfully with their hands. Detasseling corn: Workers must comprise the ability to interpret the difference between male and female seed plants. Workers are required to remove all tassels from female rows of corn at the minimum rate of 0.10 acres per hour. If a worker does not detassel at the minimum rate of 0.10 acres per hour they will slow down the productivity of other workers who will have to account for the ineffective workers? negligence. Also, a worker moving at a pace of less than 0.10 acres per hour will fail to meet the federal minimum wage standard. II is important to pull tassels in a timely fashion to avoid the production of pollen. If pollen is allowed to be produced the crop will be jeopardized. Tassels must be pulled straight out of the top of the corn plant, leaving all leaves with the plant. Workers are required to scan each row high and low to make certain all tassels are removed. In some fields, a cutter machine will cut the tips of the tassels from the female plants, followed by a puller machine that will go through and pull 40% - 85% of the tassels. Detasselers will then go through the fields to remove the remaining partial tassels that are not missed by the machine. Detasselers must remove 99. 7% - 100% of the tassels in the female rows to discourage a female corn plant from pollinating itself. Meaning that crews can only miss three (3) of every one thousand (1,000) plants before the job is deemed complete. When a worker misses more than three (3) tassels of everyone thousand (1000) plants an inspector will deem the job a failure, requesting that workers re-inspect the field to confirm the removal of missed tassels. If the worker is not mindful and removes leaves unnecessarily or does not entirely remove tassels the crop will be harmed. Consequently, if workers are not cognizant of the noted standards one must maintain to detassel corn the crop will be damaged and adversely affect productivity. Rogueing: Workers will walk through the aisles looking for an removing any plants that are damaged, appear unhealthy or have undesirable characteristics. Quality Checker: The worker may be asked to check the quality by moving down a row checking quality to ensure that all seed tassels were sufficiently removed. They will report issues to the supervisor. Corn Sorter: Performing duties in the harvest complex will involve removing damaged, diseased, moldy, and rogue ears of seed corn from the sorting bell Placing unhusked ears of com on the return belt. Dump Pit Operator: The workers will be required to open and close dryer fill doors, start-up and shut down the fill conveyors, move the fill conveyors, as well as raise and lower the fill belts. The workers will clean dryers. sheller buildings, husk buildings, and farm grounds. Grader: Grader will support the production process with labor as needed in the sorting area. [Follow oral or written instructions]. Sort out all nonconforming material, i.e. husks/stalks, damaged/moldy product, rogues and off-types, inert material (weeks & refuse). Sort out all tightly husked material to be conveyed back to the husking beds and reworked. Work in conjunction with other sorting personnel with kernel clean in the sorting area as needed. Sorters are responsible for keeping work area clean and orderly. while performing reach motion with arms and hands, twisting at the waist, stoop, talk and hear - while performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently exposed to continuous elevated noise levels and moving conveyors. Field Task: Weeding, taking, leaf sampling, gene checks, staking, picking up trash, and stocking harvest supplies.