Working on a Farm

My one week experience of working on a farm was without a doubt the most physically challenging work I’ve ever been subjected to!

I started working on Price’s Farm this week, a large family owned operation that harvests, cleans and packages green beans and capsicums. There are 16 of us from our working hostel on this farm, some of whom (who have seniority) have been working there since the 30th of April! Each day we’re split into three separate groups and tasked with either cleaning and packaging beans, picking capsicums or packaging capsicums. Each job is challenging in its own way.

Working beans consists of standing at a conveyor belt that is broken into three parts: the top portion is a large platform conveyor belt where a bin full of freshly picked beans is loaded by a forklift and dropped down  to where two or three workers sort through the beans with a hose to pick out dirt clumps and rinse them clean before they fall onto the second conveyor belt. The second level is worked by three or more people who shift through the beans to pick out bad beans, broken beans, or small beans before they fall into the boxes that are packed by one person who holds a box over a vibrating metal plate that helps the beans nestle together tightly in the box.

The capsicum machine has it’s own bathing chamber where everything is cleaned, rinsed and drained. Capsicums of all colours and sizes then fall onto the conveyor belt where the first two workers sort them by colour and size and dispose of anything with soft spots or discolouration. The packers then select the capsicums by size and colour and pack them accordingly.

If we’re not in the shed working with the beans and capsicums, then we’re out in the field picking. A tractor picks the beans, but the capsicums are picked by a team of 5 or more people following a tractor with a boom. We hit the field in long sleeves, long pants, boots, sunscreen and a hat in 30+ degree humidity. The sun in Australia is incredibly strong and although the humidity can be overwhelming with long sleeves and pants, it’s absolutely necessary to be covered while working in the fields for prolonged periods of time. The tractor moves forward about three or four steps every 30 seconds or so and each one of us tends to 1 row of capsicum plants. The boom is a long conveyor belt that we place our capsicums onto and they get pushed along and dropped into the bins on the tractor. The plants are no higher than ankle height, so we’re required to bend down to reach them. Not only do we pick whatever assortment we’re tasked with (red, green or everything), but we also have to remove any soft/rotting ones (so that they don’t steal all the growing energy) and sun bleached capsicums. The work is incredibly physically challenging, the first and second times feel close to impossible, but by the third time your body becomes used to the movements. Picture yourself doing lunges and squats every few seconds, non-stop, for up to three hours on end!

Our days are split into three parts. From 7am to 10am we work our first shift until our 1st break (known here as a smoko), then our second shift goes from 10:20 until 12:30 or 1 o’clock, for a half hour (unpaid) lunch. The last shift is usually from 1 or 1:30 until 4pm, when we either have a 10 minute break before going back to work until 6pm or we leave for the day. Luckily, I’ve only had to work from 7am to 4pm… I can’t imagine having to stay to work any longer than 9 hours per day!