Farm Worker Jobs in Virginia

Crops/Commodities:

cabbage, pumpkins, winter squash, onions, sweet corn, kale and collards.

Primary duties (performed the majority of workdays):

Jobs offered are working on a diversified crop farm handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Workers must be able to perform manual as well as mechanized activities with accuracy and efficiency.

• Plant, cultivate and harvest vegetables.
• Work on planter, plant roots, seeds and bulbs.
• May spread plastic or other groundcovering.
• Weed, thin plants.
• Transplant plants, riding on transplanter or by hand.
• May set poles and wires for vine plants.
• Pick, cut, lift, or pull crop to harvest them.
• May tie vegetables in bunches or top them.
• Grade, size and field pack product.
• Take care to prevent damaging produce and plants.
• May assist with irrigation.
• May assist with fertilizer application.
• May operate and help maintain tractors or hand-operated equipment.
• May assist with general farm building maintenance.
• Clear debris from field and clean/maintain farm buildings, structures, equipment, and work areas.

Workers will pick produce as it ripens. Considerable stooping and kneeling is required. Care must be taken to prevent damaging produce and plants. Workers will transplant plants, lay plastic and drip tape, remove plastic from fields, cultivate and weed as needed.

Cabbage:

Workers will help to pull cabbage plants from cabbage bed, set plants by placing plants by hand into rotating wheel while riding transplanter towed by tractor through field. Care must be taken to position plants properly into transplanter and not bruise or break plants. Workers will help replant and cultivate and set plants where needed in replanting. Workers will cut selected heads of cabbage and place in trailer drawn through field. With knife in hand, worker slightly bends cabbage head with free hand in direction of cut, and cuts cabbage head away from stalk, leaving 3 or 4 outer leaves around cabbage head for protection.

Corn:

Workers must be able to know by feeling an ear of sweet corn whether it meets the farm's quality standards as to maturity. Workers must pick the top-most ear and determine by feel and observation corn smut, poor pollination, bird/raccoon damage and other quality issues. Workers may be required to perform packing duties. Grade and pack produce by hand or with mechanized packing equipment, including but not limited to bagging machines, bin feeding machines, box machines, labeling machines, regular and high stacking forklifts. Sort graded produce in appropriate containers according to packing instructions. Deliver pallets of finished product to cold storage. Load/unload product. Prepare orders for shipping. Keep material and product records accurately.

Work is to be done for long periods of time. Workers are expected to perform duties including boxing, weighing and loading of product. Workers will assist in loading trucks with product weighing up to and including 60 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet for long periods of time. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers' ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs.

Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, cultivators and other equipment.