Agricultural Equipment Operator - NY 26-0015

Duncan Family Farms • Town of Seneca, NY

12d

About The Position

Drive and control equipment to support agricultural activities such as tilling soil; planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Workers must be able to perform both manual and mechanized agricultural tasks with accuracy and efficiency. This role involves hard, strenuous labor under varying environmental conditions, including cold and wet weather in the spring and extreme heat and humidity during the summer. Workers will plant, cultivate, and harvest fruits and vegetables for fresh market and/or processing.

Requirements

• Workers must be able to perform both manual and mechanized agricultural tasks with accuracy and efficiency.
• Workers must be physically capable of performing manual agricultural labor
• Report to work daily prepared for outdoor farm work
• Perform additional tasks such as ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, and other general farming duties
• Workers must follow USDA GAP certification standards
• Workers will receive training on these standards
• Failure to follow food safety standards may result in dismissal
• Workers must wear appropriate work clothing and durable footwear
• Use assigned personal protective equipment (PPE) when required
• Workers with a clean driving record (no major violations such as DUI or reckless driving) and the ability to obtain an insurable driver’s license may be required to drive company vehicles, transport crops, tools, and fellow workers, and operate tractors or trucks between fields and facilities
• Stand, bend, and stoop for long periods
• Perform repetitive movements
• Walk extensively throughout the workday
• Lift up to 60 pounds regularly

Nice To Haves

• Performance
• Experience
• Tenure

Responsibilities

• Field Preparation & Planting
• Prepare soil by tilling, digging, and ground preparation
• Plant seeds, roots, bulbs, and transplants
• Work on planters during planting operations
• Spread plastic or other ground covering and remove plastic by hand after use
• Transplant plants by hand
• Stake, tie, trellis, and prune plants
• Install poles and wires for vine crops
• Propagate and plant hops
• Cut rhizomes and store in cold storage until planting
• Fill bins with potting soil and plant rhizome pieces in pots in greenhouse environments
• Sort and separate hop plants by untangling vines carefully
• Crop Maintenance
• Weed and thin plants manually
• Apply pesticides, fertilizers, and crop protectants
• Train hop bines by wrapping them on string without damaging plants
• Fix loose or missing strings and ensure compliance in hop acreage
• Remove broken or damaged poles and install replacements
• Maintain vertically straight hop poles and tamp them into place
• Remove weeds manually with hand tools
• Spread plastic or netting over crops and remove when no longer needed
• Harvesting Duties
• Pick, cut, lift, or pull crops during harvest
• Tie vegetables into bunches or remove tops
• Grade, size, and field pack products
• Pick up hop bines and hop clusters after harvest
• Cut hop bines in the field
• Load hop bines onto trucks and transport to picking machines
• Unload hop trailers and hang hop bines in picking machines
• Bale and sew hop bales
• Stencil hop bales
• Cut bale cloth with heated knife
• Mix hops with pitchfork and push hops to pit
• Track harvest information on sheets
• Clean and sweep baler floor
• Packing & Post-Harvest Work
• Boxing and weighing produce
• Sorting, grading, and packing vegetables
• Loading and unloading trucks
• Handling products weighing up to 60 pounds
• Lifting products up to 5 feet high
• Irrigation & Farm Maintenance
• Install and maintain irrigation systems and water lines
• Place irrigation pipes and fittings
• Move and install irrigation equipment
• Install or remove drip tubing
• Dig and maintain ditches
• Install and remove levee gates
• Assist with farm building and field maintenance
• Repair fences or cover hoop houses
• Sanitation & Food Safety
• Follow USDA GAP certification standards
• Maintain sanitary conditions by sanitizing equipment and restrooms, cleaning lunch tables, picking up packing materials, boxes, labels, and trash, and discarding unwanted materials from fields
• Equipment & Driving Requirements
• Drive company vehicles
• Transport crops, tools, and fellow workers
• Operate tractors or trucks between fields and facilities

Benefits

• Team leaders may receive higher compensation based on these factors.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed