Job Description:

• 1) Plants, cultivates, and harvests specialty crops, such as alfalfa, cotton, hops, peanuts, mint, sugarcane, and tobacco, applying knowledge of growth characteristics of individual crop, and soil, climate, and market conditions: Determines number and kind of employees to be hired, acreage to be tilled, and varieties and quantities of plants to be grown.

• 2) Selects and purchases plant stock and farm machinery, implements, and supplies.

• 3) Decides when and how to plant, cultivate, and irrigate plants and harvest crops, applying knowledge of plant culture.

• 4) Attaches farm implements, such as plow, disc, and seed drill to tractor and drives tractor in fields to till soil and plant and cultivate crops.

• 5) Drives and operates farm machinery to spray fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and haul harvested crops.

• 6) Hires, assigns duties to, and oversees activities of farm workers.

• 7) Demonstrates and explains farm work techniques and safety regulations to new workers.

• 8) Maintains employee and financial records.

• 9) Arranges with buyers for sale and shipment of crop.

• 10) May install irrigation system(s) and irrigate fields.

• 11) May set poles and string wires and twine on poles to form trellises.

• 12) May lubricate, adjust, and make minor repairs on farm machinery, implements, and equipment, using mechanic's handtools and work aids.

• 13) May plant seeds in cold-frame bed and cover bed with cloth or glass to protect seedlings from weather.

• 14) May transplant seedlings in rows, by hand or using transplanter machine.

• 15) May grade and package crop for marketing.

• 16) May be designated according to crop grown as Cotton Grower; Ginseng Farmer; Hay Farmer; Hop Grower; Peanut Farmer; Sugarcane Planter; Tobacco Grower.