Orchard Farm Team Member

Buffalo Ridge Orchard is hiring for the Orchard Farm Team Member position in Central City, IA. This hands-on role supports the operation's day-to-day production and care work. Reliable execution and early communication matter because the work directly affects plants, animals, equipment, coworkers, customers, or the surrounding property. What you will do • Seed, transplant, cultivate, irrigate, harvest, wash, pack, and store crops according to the farm's plan and food-safety procedures. • Use and care for assigned hand tools, wash-pack equipment, carts, and field equipment within training. • Monitor crops and communicate pest, disease, water, weather, quality, or harvest-timing concerns promptly. • Support apple, pear, vegetable, herb, field, or high-tunnel production through the planting, crop-care, and harvest tasks assigned for the day. • Handle, sort, pack, label, store, or stage farm products carefully for the orchard's farm store, local customers, or other approved sales channels. • Maintain orderly production and packhouse areas and communicate crop condition, food-safety, irrigation, equipment, quality, or inventory concerns. How the work fits together Farm priorities follow crop condition, weather, harvest commitments, and customer orders. The crew checks urgent irrigation and harvest needs first, then moves through field production, post-harvest handling, accurate packing, storage, and cleanup. Each employee's work affects both crop life and the quality customers receive. At Buffalo Ridge Orchard, the employer also makes these role-specific priorities clear: Support apple, pear, vegetable, herb, field, or high-tunnel production through the planting, crop-care, and harvest tasks assigned for the day. Handle, sort, pack, label, store, or stage farm products carefully for the orchard's farm store, local customers, or other approved sales channels. Maintain orderly production and packhouse areas and communicate crop condition, food-safety, irrigation, equipment, quality, or inventory concerns. What the employer is looking for • Motivated, energetic approach and willingness to move between orchard, vegetable, packhouse, store-support, and general farm assignments. • Ability to work carefully around living crops and harvested food, follow food-safety and equipment direction, and contribute reliably to a small crew. • Dependable attendance, direct communication, and willingness to follow the employer's safety, quality, and customer- or production-care procedures. • Ability to complete the role's active, in-person work and to ask for instruction before using unfamiliar tools, equipment, products, or animal-handling methods. Schedule, conditions, and compensation The direct employer page accepts applications but does not publish numeric pay, exact hours, benefits, or a fixed employment term. Buffalo Ridge's farm store operates May–December, but candidates should confirm the position's actual start, end, and weekly schedule. The employer does not publish a numeric wage range on this page, so no compensation has been estimated. Applicants should confirm the final hours, overtime treatment, starting assignment, travel or reporting point, supplied equipment, and benefit eligibility directly with the employer before accepting an offer. This is an in-person agricultural production position with a small operation. Daily priorities can change with weather, plant or animal condition, equipment availability, customer schedules, and the season. The successful person should arrive ready to work, communicate early when a task or condition is unclear, follow the employer's safety and quality procedures, and leave tools, vehicles, production areas, and job sites secure and ready for the next shift. Applicants should expect active work that may include long periods of standing or walking, bending, lifting, repetitive hand tasks, noise, dust, mud, pollen, heat, cold, rain, or work around moving equipment. The exact physical demands differ by assignment. Candidates should discuss any accommodation needs with the employer and confirm the final schedule, overtime treatment, training period, travel expectations, and benefit eligibility before accepting an offer. Only compensation and benefits expressly published by the employer are included here; unpublished terms have not been estimated. How to apply Use the application linked from Buffalo Ridge Orchard's Join Our Team page or contact info@buffaloridgeorchard.com and identify Orchard Farm Team Member.