Horticultural Worker (45-2092.00)
Employer: Fox Ridge Nursery Inc
Location: Harvard, IL
Workers needed: 8
Pay: $15.49/hour
Season: Jan 25, 2027 – Aug 1, 2027
Experience: 2 months
Employer-provided housing; Transportation provided/reimbursed
The job
Nursery stock includes but is not limited to Trees, shrubs, and evergreens.
Greenhouse/Nursery: Workers may perform any combination of the following duties concerned with preparing soil and growth media, cultivation, and otherwise participating in horticultural activities: haul, spread, dig, rake, and mix media to prepare the growing areas for production; cover and fill cold frames and greenhouses in preparation for planting; haul, plant, spray, weed, water, prune, trim, shape and space products; fertilize with granular or liquid fertilizer; tie, bunch, wrap, and pack trees and shrubs to fill orders and load onto trucks for marketing; in a greenhouse, or in an outdoor production area transplanting seedlings and liners into containers and place in growing area.
Flowering Trees and Shrubs: Workers will be working with flowering trees and shrubs. Workers will plant, cultivate, harvest, propagate, grade, store and ship container and field grown horticultural products. Harvesting crops may include grading and tagging. Some harvesting may require digging up products and placing on pallets. Grading is done by size. Products are measured, tied in bundles, and placed in storage for shipment. Workers will harvest seed and/or take cuttings from trees and shrubs, place in containers pre-filled with growing media and transplant cuttings and seedlings to prepared areas.
Bare Root Products: Workers will handle a variety of bare root products. Workers will propagate, plant, cultivate, harvest and prepare products for shipment.
Nursery Work: Workers will be required to start all crops from seed. Seedlings will be grown in 10 x 20 trays filled with sand or dirt and kept in a controlled environment. When seedlings reach approximately 2 inches tall, and per supervisors; instruction, workers will transplant seedlings from tray into peat pots. When seedlings reach appropriate size, approximately 6 to 8 inches tall, workers will be required to transfer from peat pots to carious selling containers and transport to prepared fields for transplanting. When produce is ready for marketing workers will load onto trucks to be shipped to purchaser’s locations.
General duties: Duties performed in the field will be sporadic all through the contract due to various crops and crop conditions. Duties will/could include preparing soil, planting, pruning, cutting, deadheading, pinching, trimming to shape, spacing plants, fertilizing with granular or liquid fertilizer, cleaning work areas, transporting plant materials in the nursery/greenhouse areas, loading, and unloading plants and all other duties associated with ornamental plant production. Between harvesting, workers may be required to perform duties to prepare crops for marketing. Workers will also unload pallets from trucks or wagons into fields for transplanting. Worker may unload and restock for storage.
Loading and unloading: workers may be required to work on flatbed trailer tying B&B trees to the trailer with twine. Workers may be required to work loading or unloading bare root trees by hand into refrigerated trailers. Workers may be required to load and unload any of the greenhouse nursery stock.
Cultivation: Workers may be required to work as operators of wheel tractors pulling cultivators, mower, or hilling disks.
Watering: Workers may be required to water trees by hand using pumps and hoses.
Farm Equipment Operation: Workers may be required to operate pick-up trucks, road wagons, tractors, and other farm equipment during daily operations, as an incidental activity. Before any worker is required to operate any farm equipment, workers will be instructed in the safety and operation of the tractor before driving the tractor. Tractors should be driven in a manner to protect operator, other workers, products, trees, crops, and equipment. Repeated failure to obey safety requirements and operating instructions may result in termination.
Housing: Employer-provided (including mobile or range)
Meals: Employer-provided housing includes free and convenient kitchen facilities with appropriate equipment, appliances, cooking accessories, and dishwashing facilities for meal preparation. Workers will buy their own groceries. Once a week the employers will offer to provide (on a voluntary basis by the workers) free transportation to assure workers access to the closest store where they can purchase groceries. In the event kitchen facilities are not available workers staying in employer housing will be provided 3 meals per day at the current subsistence rate as posted in the federal register.
Transport: At the filing of this job order that is not known based on appointment availability at the consulate.
a) Incoming: The Employer will not advance transportation and subsistence costs to workers for transportation to or from the place of employment. Employer will reimburse workers as outlined in the regulations the most economical cost of transportation. If there are a sufficient number of workers, employer may arrange for a worker paid charter and reimburse workers as required in the regulation
Experience wanted: 2 months
All applicants must have at least 2 months experience as a farm worker or nursery worker. Must be physically able to meet and perform all job specifications stated in job order. Must be able to work in the hot humid weather for extended periods of time. Workers are subject to random drug testing at no cost to the employee. All drug testing will occur after the worker begins his or her employment and is not a part of the interview process. Failing or refusing a drug test will result in immediate termination.
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