Agricultural Equipment Operators

About the role

Drive and control equipment to support agricultural activities such as tilling soil; planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. This is hard, strenuous labor, under cold, wet conditions in the spring, and extreme heat and humidity in the summer. Plant, cultivate and harvest fruits and vegetables for fresh-market and/or processing. Crops include, but are not limited to, asparagus, cucurbits, sweet corn, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, Romanesco, hops, parsley, herbs.

Responsibilities

• Use hand tools, including, but not limited to, shovels, hoes and knives
• Work on planter, planting roots, seeds and bulbs
• Spread plastic or other ground covering and clean plastic by hand from ground upon removal
• Till soil, weed and thin plants
• Transplant plants by hand
• Stake/tie plants, trellis/prune plants, and set poles and wires for vine plants
• Pick, cut, lift, or pull crops to harvest them
• Tie vegetables in bunches or top them
• Grade, size and field pack product
• Apply pesticides, fertilizer and crop protectants
• Place irrigation pipe and fittings
• Assist with farm building/field maintenance and repairs
• Install/maintain irrigation systems and water lines
• Move and install irrigation pipes and equipment
• Dig and maintain ditches
• Install and remove levee gates
• Dig and prepare ground
• Propagate and plant hops: cut rhizomes and store in cold storage until planting; fill bins with potting soil; plant rhizome pieces in pot and place pots in greenhouse
• Sort plants and separate hop plants by untangling vine; take care not to damage hop vine
• Till soil and prepare field for planting; plant pots in field
• Remove broken or damaged poles and install a new pole; ensure all hop poles are vertically straight and tamped into place
• Manually remove weeds by hand or with digging tools; weeding baby hop yards requires special care to avoid damaging bines
• Fix loose/missing strings
• Manually train (wrap) hop bines on string; training hops requires special care not to damage bine
• Manually remove drip tubing from hop plants and place at center of the hill to avoid damage
• Roll, tie, and install tube with utility vehicle and tubing roller
• Re-tie broken tubes to nearest string; excess or repeated damage to drip tubes may result in suspension or discharge
• Pick up bines and hop clusters from ground behind combine and put into truck
• Place bale cloth on the truck front and latch/unlatch truck
• Cut bale cloth with heated knife; bale and sew hop bales
• Stencil hop bales; clean and sweep baler floor
• Mix hops with pitchfork and push hops to pit
• Track harvest information on sheet
• Cut hop bines in the field
• Unload hop trailers and hang hop bines in the picking machine

Requirements

• 2 months of verifiable agricultural experience, preferably on a vegetable farm
• Lifting requirement of 60 lbs
• Repetitive movements, extensive pushing/pulling, walking, frequent stooping

Qualifications

• Workers must have or will be trained in USDA GAP certification standards and must abide by those standards; failure to do so will be grounds for dismissal
• Fix non-compliant acreage immediately

Schedule

Full-time seasonal positions available from April 28, 2026 through November 22, 2026.