Orchard Labor

in County, ID

Job Description

Consultant, please conduct a seated interview. Period of intended Employment: 4/4/2025-10/3/2025. Location: Wenatchee, Washington. Applicant "MUST HAVE" 3 months of experience. This job requires a minimum of 3 months of agricultural experience, preferably working in an orchard handling both manual and mechanized tasks associated with production of tree fruit. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60lbs.Job Duties: General Farm Worker, - Orchard work - apple, cherry, peach, apricot, pear trees, field crops Mow, 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. Use power equipment including but not limited to tractors, planters, mowers, plows, sprayers, cultivators, power shears, chain saws, high lifts, forklifts, skid loaders. Must operate agricultural equipment safely, with or without direction. Assist with farm building/field maintenance and repairs. Planting: Propagate plants by placing buds/scions. Plant seedlings or 'liners' by hand or with a mechanical planter. Clear cull stock, brush, and debris. Dig holes and shovel dirt. Tree Training: hoeing, tree painting, 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, dead wood, and shoots-suckers. Use/handle ladders up to 5 ft. in length and weighing up to 60 lbs. or perform work on motorized platform. Prepare fields/soil for planting. Remove cull stock, debris, tree stumps, brush, vines, and other growth from planting area using tractor, mattocks, brush hooks and/or axes. Plant, cultivate and maintain bedding plants in condition for shipping. Pot seedlings or 'liners' by hand or mechanical planter. Propagate plants from cuttings. Perform general plant maintenance. Prune, trim, space, transplant, and cull plants to ensure availability of marketable products. Irrigate and apply fertilizer. Pack, label, tag, pull, and store plants by variety. Count, grade, and inventory plants. Selects trees for cutting according to markings, size, species, and grade. Cut trees using an axe or chain saw. Drag cut trees from cutting area. Runs trees through tree baler. Inventory and grade trees. Products must be handled carefully to prevent damage. 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. The Employer attests that these workers will be properly trained by the farm manager who has a valid Private Applicator license which is the standard pursuant to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA). Furthermore, the farm manager will be available to ensure that workers understand all chemical labels, safety instructions, and application instructions pursuant to WSDA. Work is done in the field for long periods of time. Workers may assist in handling product weighing up to 60 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet. Workers must work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Work required in fields when plants are wet with dew and rain, and may be required during light rain, snow, moderate winds, direct sun, high humidity, and extreme temperatures. Temperatures in fields during working hours can range from 10 to over 100 degrees F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honeybees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker's ability to perform the job. Workers should be able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations. Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post harvest treatment of crops. Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them. Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand. Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress. Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops. Load agricultural products on flatbed trailers and in trucks Clean work areas. Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, plants. Move containerized plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors. Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.  Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, and trees, using gardening tools. Hand weed using hoe when needed Tying, taping or clipping trees or limbs to wires Care for young non-producing fruit trees including but not limited to weeding, hoeing, trunk painting, hand fertilizing and growth selection by hand and clipping. Clear property, plant trees, build trellis, repair trellis, and spread composted material Farm clean up tasks to include picking up garbage, removing old string and wire from steel posts and trellis; tree branches; removing old irrigation and other miscellaneous items/garbage. The Worker will care for young nonproducing fruit trees including but not limited to weeding, hoeing, trunk painting, hand fertilizing and growth selection by hand and clipping. Hand thinning of apple, cherry, peach, apricot and pear trees to ensure proper fruit load on tree. Pruning of apple, cherry, peach, apricot and pear trees. Training of apple, cherry, peach, apricot and pear trees to trellis, including clipping and tying limbs and shoots to wire. Training and limb positioning of apple, cherry, peach, apricot, and pear trees. Provide general orchard labor to assist in the establishment of new orchard properties by clearing property, planting trees, building trellis, repair and spreading of composted material and any other labor considered necessary for the efficient structure of new orchard properties. Care for trees during growing process, recognize tree disease such as of blighted branches in apples and gummosis in cherries. Harvest preparation includes spreading liners in bins, rolling bins into blocks by hand.  Propping and tying of apple, cherry, and pear trees and limbs. Pruning and thinning may be done from the ground or ladder up to 12 feet in height, or from a motorized platform.