General Farm Worker (Farm Machinery Operator)

Highline Mushrooms; Leamington; On-site; CAD 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Extended health benefits

Pension matching

Job summary

Highline Mushrooms is seeking hands-on laborers for permanent, full-time roles in Essex County, Leamington, Ontario. You will assist with harvesting prep, packaging support, sanitation, net setup and fleet of farm equipment, ensuring high safety and GMP standards.

Positions offer regular shifts, varied hours, and opportunities to work across multiple farm operations, with emphasis on hygiene, equipment operation, and collaboration with the Senior Crew.

Qualifications

• Must be at least 16 years of age.
• Must be eligible to work in Canada without restrictions.
• Previous experience in agriculture, horticulture, construction or relevant field is required.

Responsibilities

• Disinfect growing rooms and materials.
• Set up nets for harvest beds.
• Assist in machine setup with Senior Crew.
• Operate or assist filling winch and related equipment.
• Wash and sanitize heavy machinery and trucks; maintain hygiene in tunnels and grow rooms.
• Move compost and manage peat, lime and water for casing as per specifications.
• Operate forklifts, loaders and other farm machinery with proper training.
• Coordinate with growers and maintain safety, GMPs and documentation.

Job description

Highline's Vision and Values:

Passionately nourish people, the environment and the community, through embracing our core values, which include:

We do the right thing, always. We lead the way. We are fanatical about quality. We are transparent in our relationships. We always consider the human element. We embrace diversity and inclusion.

General Duties:

• Disinfecting growing rooms and any materials

• Setting up nets for harvest beds

• Assisting in machine set up with the Senior Crew

• Assisting or operating the filling winch

• Guiding nets into growing rooms

• Driving vehicles on the farm, such as wagons, casing trucks, or dump trucks

• Wash and sanitize heavy machinery, casing trucks, wagons and dump trucks

• Operating handheld drill to secure plastic sheets with growing room

• Pulling the cables from the winch across mushrooms beds, up to 8 feet high

• General hygiene practices: cleaning aisles, shovelling, squeegee, etc.

• Washing growing rooms

• Assisting the operator for the emptying winch and conveyor and in setting up any heavy equipment

• Removing nets from the winch

• Operating a forklift to remove nets and equipment

• Setting up nets across the growing beds after cleaning and sanitizing

• Driving vehicles on the farm, such as wagons, casing trucks, or dump trucks

• Helps ensure the mushroom compost is filled into the growing beds and ensures the growing beds are emptied post-harvest

• Setting up the Head Filler and Pulling Winch

• Operates the Head Filler (Casing Line – W)

• Operates Pulling Winch

• Operates Skid Steer and forklift

• Supports and backs-up the Material Application Specialist, Fill/Empty Operations

• Setting up and guiding nets for harvest beds

• Washing/cleaning and proper maintenance of Fill/Empty machinery, nets, casing trucks, wagons, dump trucks and premises

• Set up any heavy equipment

• Operate the emptying winch and conveyor

• Supports and backs-up the Material Application Specialist, Fill/Empty Operations

• Operates the Emptying Winch, pulling the compost out of the tunnel for spawning and transfer of the spawned compost to growing rooms

• May occasionally work from heights and operate equipment with proper training

• May assist in addition of mushroom spawn to compost material

• May assist in addition of supplements to compost

• Washing/cleaning and proper maintenance of Tunnels machinery and premises

• Unloading trucks using a forklift when needed

• Wash and sanitize tunnels, nets, casing trucks, wagons, dump trucks, etc.

• Assists the Senior Crew – Tunnels Operations as required

• Operates the Cassette Machine to move the raw compost material from tunnel to tunnel

• Ensures addition of mushroom spawn to compost material

• Ensures addition of supplements to compost

• Washing/cleaning and proper maintenance of Tunnels machinery and premises

• Supports and backs-up the Material Application Specialist – Tunnels Operations

• Operates Bunker filler

• Operates Front end loader

• Helps ensure the compost is getting the right amount of water and mix.

• Washing/cleaning and proper maintenance of Bunker filler and machinery.

• Maintains common areas cleaned and washed, as shop, bunkers inside and behind, fill hall, upstairs fill hall, pump house, electric house, storage and change room.

• Remove and install temperature probe.

• Cut strings and wash the blending line.

• Clean compost from difficult access area with a pitchfork.

• Outdoor ground tasks in general.

• Back up at Fill Hall adding spawn.

• Ensures that peat moss, lime and water are mixed properly for casing according to specifications set by growers and/or substrate manager

• Coordinates and assists in preparing the peat mixers, conveyors and other required tools and equipment for use in peat preparation operations

• Washing/cleaning and inspection of Casing Building machinery and premises.

• Report inspection deficiencies to the Maintenance Manager and Substrate Manager for repair.

• Consistently removes broken pallets and other debris from staging area in a timely manner.

• Maintains strict hygiene at all times

• Unloads peat moss and hydrated lime shipments from trucks with a forklift after verification of quantities has been completed by the Tunnels Manager or Substrate Manager.

• Loads finished casing into casing truck for Essex County farms using skid steer.

• Ensures adequate supply of casing is always maintained to supply Essex County farms

• The safe and proper application of such additives as chlorine, calcium chloride

• Assessing watering requirements within guidelines supplied by the Grower

• Mixing and applying water and additives in proper quantity and with proper technique in accordance with Grower’s directions

• Applying disinfectants where and when required

• Keeps accurate and accessible records when required

• Washes growing rooms and hallways as required for each location

• Communicates with growers

• Ensures that the highest levels of disease preventative measures are implemented and maintained

• Working on the trolleys to assess levels of disease

• Transfers trash bins to and from growing rooms using a forklift

• Dumps trash bins into wagon

• Operates tractor to dump wagons when full

• Delivers harvest supplies to the growing rooms

• Assists with product scanning when requested

• Inspects trolleys and platforms for safety compliance

• Sets up harvesting rooms for following day

• Assists tray fill department when requested

• Assists with stacking mushrooms when required

• Assists floor runners as required

• In charge of the washing and cleaning of the slice room and slice room equipment, the packaging room and packaging room equipment, harvest hallways and stump dumpers

• Washes all trays and lugs

• Cleans growing rooms

• Responsible for watering growing rooms and checking for disease in growing rooms

• Completes any other farm sanitation as required (ex. washing coolers, cleaning loading docks, etc.)

• Responsible for completing all sanitation records for SQF Program

• Responsible for setting up the harvest hallways for the following day, ensuring that all required supplies are brought to the harvest hallways

• The safe and proper application of such additives as chlorine, calcium chloride

• Operates the power jack, scissor lift, forklift, tugger, and floor scrubber as needed

• Applying disinfectants where and when required

• Working on the trolleys to assess levels of disease as needed

• Loads, unloads and operates the vacuum cleaner and properly recording vacuum cleaner temperatures

• Stores and maintains product in the coolers in an efficient and organized manner

• Moves pallets of product using a hand jack and/or power jack

• Ensures product is cooled to specifications

• Stores finished product in proper locations in the loading dock

• Supplies the packing lines with masters and empty pallets

• Stack mushrooms on skids for space consolidation

• Receives product throughout the day via RF scanner within SAP and fills the proper documentation based on the quality, and item count

• Operates the box machine to assemble cardboard boxes, as per customer requirements

• Reworks boxes as required and Manually assembles box lids

• Change over machine to match customer requirements

• Maintains a clean and organized workspace

• Capable of identifying obvious malfunctions of the equipment being used

• May provide support to Shipper/Receiver (Kingsville only)

• Operates hand jack, power jack and forklift as required

• Maintains and monitors corrugated cardboard inventory

• Able to perform all machine change overs depending on box size requirements

• Performs low-level maintenance of the Box Machine equipment

• Performs any other duties that may be assigned as required

• Embrace and support the Highline culture and values, acting as brand ambassador at all times

• Interact with others in a manner that promotes respect, confidentiality and dignity

• Develop and actively foster an engaged work force, displaying professionalism at all times

• Adheres to the Safety Policies, including use of proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other safety equipment

• Reports unsafe conditions immediately to the supervisor

• Reports all incidents, injuries and near misses to the supervisor immediately

• Cooperates in the Early and Safe Return to Work Program if an injury or medical illness requires accommodation.

• Follows all Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) as trained

• Adheres to all quality standards per customer specifications

Qualifications:

• Must be at least 16 years of age.

• Must be eligible to work in Canada without restrictions.

• Previous experience in agriculture, horticulture, construction or relevant field is required

• Previous experience operating farm or construction machinery is considered an asset

• No language requirements

Hours of Work:

• 5 to 6 days / week

• Approximately 30 to 60 hours / week; 8 to 14 hours / day

• Public Holidays / Weekends as scheduled

• Daily shift end times vary based on production needs

Earnings:

• $18.67 - $21.68 per hour

• Farm Hand Fill/Empty Crew receives a $0.60 per hour premium for working on the afternoon shift

• Packing room positions receive a shift premium of $1.00 per hour worked after 5:00p.m.

• Hallway Runners and Fill/Empty Crew receive a production bonus

Benefits:

• Extended health, vision and dental for associates and their eligible family members

• Life insurance and dependent life insurance

• Short term disability

• Annual safety shoe allowance / reimbursement

• Pension matching after 1 year

• Overtime eligible

• Discretionary Bonus, years of service increases and annual wage grid reviews

Job Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Vacancies: 6

Locations of Work:

• 506 Mersea Rd. 5, Leamington, ON N8H 3V5

• 2646 Division Rd., Kingsville, ON N9Y 2E5

Highline encourages applications from all qualified candidates. When requested, Highline will accommodate people with disabilities at all stages of the recruitment, assessment and hiring process.

By submitting your application, you consent to being contacted by a representative of Highline via email, phone or text message regarding your application and potential career opportunities.

Please note that artificial intelligence tools are used to assist our recruitment team in screening, summarizing and sorting applicant profiles.

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