Agricultural Equipment Operator and General Farm Laborer (Research-Focused)

I. Minimum Job Requirements and Qualifications
The employer requires all applicants to possess the following verifiable experience and meet the physical demands of the job:

• Experience: A minimum of ten (10) months of verifiable experience in a comparable agricultural setting, including specific experience in the operation of research harvest equipment and work within a plant breeding or agricultural research program.
• Lifting Requirement: Must be able to lift and carry items weighing up to 50 lbs.
• Physical Demands: Must be able to work long hours in extreme weather conditions, including excessive heat, cold, wet environments, and perform frequent stooping, bending, and repetitive movements.

II. Essential Job Duties
A. Equipment Operation
1. Research Harvesting: Operate and maintain specialized research harvest equipment (combines) to efficiently cut, gather, thresh, and clean soybeans/corn from experimental plots, making fine adjustments to machine settings for optimal performance, minimizing crop loss, and preventing plot contamination.
2. Routine Maintenance & Repair: Attach, adjust, service, and perform minor repairs on all farm implements and equipment using hand and power tools. This includes equipment lubrication, parts replacement, and daily cleaning to ensure proper functioning.

B. Research Support and Scouting
3. Plot Inspection & Note Taking: Walk fields to visually inspect different research plots, assess crop health, and accurately record agronomic characteristics (stand count, disease presence, maturity, lodging) using digital or physical recording devices.
4. Field Maintenance (Manual): Perform manual tasks necessary to maintain crop quality, including hand removal of weeds (hoeing), thinning, and rogueing undesirable plants from both commercial and research plots.
5. Hand Harvest: Hand harvest individual plants as required by the research program.

C. General Labor and Infrastructure
6. Post-Harvest Tasks: Clean and prepare storage facilities for harvested crops; threshing, scoop, shovel, clean, and manually move soybeans.
7. Infrastructure Repair: Assist in the repair and maintenance of farm property, including perimeter fences and shops.
8. Loading/Unloading: Manually lift, load, and unload equipment, parts, supplies, bags of seed, and containers of chemicals.
9. Record Keeping & Safety: Record information such as equipment meter readings, hours worked, field activities completed, and quantities of materials applied. Observe and enforce all safety rules, including the proper use of Personal Protective Equipment when operating machinery or handling materials.

Employment period: Sep 11, 2026 – Nov 11, 2026