Job Description:

• 1) Propagates and grows horticultural-specialty products and crops, such as seeds, bulbs, rootstocks, sod, ornamental plants, and cut flowers: Plans acreage utilization and work schedules, according to knowledge of crop culture, climate and market conditions, seed, bulb, or rootstock availability, and employable work force and machinery.

• 2) Attaches farm implements, such as disk and fertilizer spreader, to tractor and drives tractor in fields to till soil and plant and cultivate crop.

• 3) Inspects fields periodically to ascertain nutrient deficiencies, detect insect, disease, and pest infestations, and identify foreign-plant growth, and selects, purchases, and schedules materials, such as fertilizers and herbicides, to ensure quality control.

• 4) Hires field workers; assigns their duties according to scheduled activities, such as planting, irrigating, weeding, and harvesting; and oversees their activities.

• 5) Maintains personnel and production records.

• 6) Arranges with customers for sale of crop.

• 7) May oversee activities, such as product cleaning, grading, and packaging.

• 8) May provide customer services, such as planning and building planters, walls, and patios, and planting and caring for landscape and display arrangements.

• 9) May bud or graft scion stock on plantings to alter growth characteristics.

• 10) May develop new variations of species specialty to produce crops with specialized market-appeal, such as disease resistance or color brilliance.

• 11) May cultivate out-of-season seedlings and crops, using greenhouse.

• 12) May cultivate cover crop, such as hay or rye, in rotation with horticultural specialty to rejuvenate soil.

• 13) May drive and operate self-propelled harvesting machine.

• 14) May lubricate, adjust, and make minor repairs on farm machinery and equipment.

• 15) May build, remove, and repair farm structures, such as fences and sheds.

• 16) May be designated according to crop as Bulb Grower; Flower Grower; Grass Farmer; Rose Grower; Seed Grower; Shrub Grower.