General Farm/irrigation Worker

Worker will be required to perform a variety of duties related to the production of hops and corn. The majority of the work activities during the overall contract period, however, will be related to general farm work/irrigation/crop production. General Farm Work will include the following responsibilities: maintain, drive, attach and operate farm implements/tractors/equipment to till soil, plant, cultivate, fertilize, and harvest crops; prepare fields for planting/production season; make minor mechanical adjustments and repairs on farm machinery; may mix and/or spray chemicals/fertilizer/pesticides (according to appropriate restrictive use laws, when/if applicable) using tractors and/or hand sprayers; remove undesirable and excess growth from crops or farm grounds; mow weeds; remove rocks from field; paint/repair/maintain farm structures; replace/repair fencing; perform general cleanup of farm areas, corrugates, and ditches surrounding fields; drive, load/unload trucks; operate vehicle, motor bike or all-terrain vehicle in the course of performing duties; transport crops to market; drive, load/unload trucks in fields and at receiving stations or any other needed delivery point; de-tassel corn. General hop production will include the following responsibilities: maintain/repair trellises; replace hop poles and install new poles on new ground; fix/replace/install wire; clean out/dig/tamp post holes; lay cement; install poles; ensure poles are vertically straight and tamped into place; drive/operate equipment to install wire and poles; put straws out in field to mark where plants will go; plant hop roots (dig 6-8 inch hole, place marker, place hop roots into soil, replace soil to cover roots, firm ground with shovel); dig/cut hop roots (use compressor to blow dirt away from hop hill, use cutting tool to cut hop root into segments); divide/bundle hop roots (use cutting tool to divide roots and bundle with rubber bands or string); place in bins; plant potted plants in field; plant/replant/transport roots; build/repair trellis; stretch cable and attach clamps; attach string between trellis and ground; load stringing cart with string; attach string to cable on trellis above ground; drive stringing cart; ride on farm implement cart, approx. 18 ft. above the ground and hand tie string to cables/trellis; identify appropriate string and place metal W clips into the ground with clip probe; repair broken/loose string; dampen string; break string bails; stack string; train vines around string; pick up vines that have fallen off trellis or have broken strings and place back onto to trellis; remove vines/ broken strings/weeds/debris from growing hop plants; haul torn out hop poles and trellis. Duties related to hop harvest will include the following: operate tractors with top/bottom cutter; load/drive hop trucks in fields and from fields to hop facilities and back; walk the fields and pick up vines left behind; unload trucks at stationary picking machine; observe picking machine and ensure proper operation; keep track of all tools and ensure picking machine is off when performing any type of maintenance; ensure picking machine is lubricated; use telehandler to load hops into machine and ensure machine remains loaded, does not jam, and runs at capacity at all times; clean hop debris from work site; use broom to sweep fallen hops to bottom conveyor; pick sticks/debris out of hops being laid into hop kiln; ensure hop floors are laid correctly; communicate with kiln operator and stick pickers; sweep/clean hop debris from machines and work areas; move dry hops from dryer to cooling room/floor; ensure baling machine is operating correctly and at capacity; observe and prep balers; push dried hops onto belt and into baler; compress/bale hops; sew ends of hop bales with sewing machine or by hand; mark each bale with lot and variety; walk rows following harvest to pick up fallen hop bines, pile bines in field, and place in trailers.