New York Seasonal Jobs

Orchard Worker - 87 Fulltime H-2A Seasonal Jobs available 03/13/23-12/16/23.

Crops: Apples and hops.

Apples: Will manually plant and cultivate apples; use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears and knives. Duties include tilling soil, transplanting, weeding, thinning or pruning; applying fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Identify plants, pests and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides, herbicides & fertilizers. Inform farm managers of crop progress. Clear and maintain irrigation ditches. Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields or costs. Prune trees seasonally to promote optimum growth. Gather pruned branches from area for disposal. Perform pruning and suckering by cutting terminal growth and water sprouts from inside of tree using hand pruner. Thins trees from orchard. Drive/operate utility vehicles and row crop tractors.

Machine Operation: Under direction of management, workers will operate farm equipment to till soil and to plant, cultivate, spray and aid in the production and harvest of apples and hops. Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify management when machinery malfunctions.

Workers may assist with packing operations and will need to fill buckets & place fruit in bins. Follow supervisor instructions on color/size. Must differentiate between colors & fruit varieties. Accurately identify and remove misshapen, damaged, or otherwise unmarketable fruit. Workers will hand-pick apples for fresh market and/or processing. Productivity must be at least 4 bins (80 bushels)/day of fresh market apples and 5 bins (100 bushels)/day of processing fruit. All fruit is to be handled with care to avoid bruising. Fruit injured by bruising during picking shall not exceed 1% (WNY) for fresh and 1% (WNY) for processing. Picked fruit will be inspected according to instructions given each day by the foreman. Workers will be directed to strip all fruit from tree at one picking or to spot pick (selective picking) according to size & color depending on crop conditions & state of maturity. Fruit picked as drops is never mixed with tree fruit.

Workers may be asked to perform nursery work which will include budding, care of nursery trees, grafting & weeding as directed by management. Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions. Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps. Mix specified materials or chemicals, & dump solutions, powders into sprayer machinery. Operate/tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, trailers, and irrigation equipment. Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery. Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools. Use machinery to mow grass, cut brush, plant young trees, spray fruit trees, apply soil amendments, install trellis systems and perform other equipment related activities involved in tree fruit/ hops production. Operate tractors & trucks on farm property to move equipment and supplies. Workers may help with the pruning, thinning, and other manual labor duties, as directed by management.

Requirements:

• Requires 3 months of verifiable prior experience working in an orchard, performing described tasks.
• Workers must be able to lift/carry 60 pounds.
• Exposure to extreme temps.
• Repetitive movements, extensive walking, extensive pushing/pulling & frequent stooping.
• Alcohol & drug screen after accident at work, at employer expense.
• Sat work required.

The full terms and conditions of the job (form ETA790a) should be reviewed and provided to qualified applicants from this website: seasonaljobs.dol.gov. For qualified applicants requiring a Spanish translation of this job order, please email DIPA@labor.ny.gov or call 1-877-466-9757. Please include the applicant name and job order number in your request.