Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

at RENDLEMAN ORCHARDS INC in Alto Pass, Illinois, United States

Job Description

Workers will prepare fields for planting, plant, cultivate, and harvest crops named in this job order. Crops: Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Green Beans, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Peaches, Nectarines, Apples, Zinnias, Cosmos, Sunflowers and strawflowers Zucchini Squash, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Pumpkins: Workers will plant, cultivate and harvest vegetables. Workers will be required to remove weeds by hand or with a hoe. Workers will bend and stoop to pick vegetables according to size, color, shape and degree of maturity and place into field containers. Workers will harvest squash, cucumbers, and green beans by a 5/8-bushel bucket that weighs approximately 30-40 lbs. to carry depending upon the crop. Pumpkins will be harvested individually. Workers may carry full container weighing approximately forty (40) lbs. and empty into field bin or load onto trailer. May be required to pull and discard culls as directed by supervisor. Pickers will take care not to bruise or scar produce. Workers will stand on feet for long periods of time. Workers are required to work in fields when plants are wet with dew or rain. Temperatures in fields during working hours can range from forty (40) to over one hundred (100) degrees. All squash, cucumbers, and green beans will be harvested by a 5/8-bushel bucket that weighs approximately 30-40 lbs., to carry depending upon the crop. Pumpkins will be picked up individually. Buckets and gloves provided. Workers will setup and move irrigation pipe. Flowers: Workers will remove weeds by hand or hoe. Worker will deadhead flowers. The following duties apply to Peaches Nectarines, and Apples: Picking Fruit: Worker will be assigned a row, usually with a partner, and is responsible for picking all the proper fruit from that row, or half row. Fruit will be harvested by using a picking bag with shoulder strap (provided by employer). Workers must be able to carry a picking bag with approximately 35 lbs. of apples, nectarines or peaches up and down a ladder in order to harvest the full tree. Fruit are selected from the tree according to size and/or color standard set by the picking supervisor. In some instances, fruit harvest will be done from up to a twelve-foot ladder weighing up to 30 lbs. All workers must be able to lift, carry, and work from the top of the ladder. The entire tree must be checked to ensure removal of all fruit meeting-picking requirements. Fruit are placed gently in the picking container until container is full. The full picking container weighing up to 40 lbs. is then taken to fruit wagon and gently emptied into a field bin, taking care of not to spill or bruise the fruit in the container or in the field bin. Workers are to stay on their assigned row unless directed by a supervisor to change, or to help someone out sporadically. Picking units will be kept free of limbs, leaves or mushy fruit. Fruit harvested specifically for sale at a roadside stand as fresh market specialty baskets in peck or half bushel containers must be field graded. For fruit harvest for sale at a roadside stand, extra care must be used to ensure that each piece of fruit is undamaged and perfect. Workers will be required to pick up and return picking ladders to the ladder wagon provided by the grower at the end of each workday or as directed by the grower or designated supervisor. Ripe, overripe & rotten (culls) peaches, nectarines and apples shall be removed by hand from the field harvest bins during harvest. The fruit shall be placed in proper containers according to instructions.