Harvest Worker

You harvest by hand in the field and in the orchard: picking strawberries down the row, laying apples into the picking bag, pulling onions and stacking crates onto the trailer. Sorting by size in the shed, weighing and labelling the trays for the wholesale market are part of the week too. The charge hand shows you on day one the grip that does not bruise the fruit and gives out the rows. The week is six days from 06:00 to 14:30, earlier in a heatwave, with two breaks that come to 45 minutes.

No experience needed, two days of paid training in the row

Fit for bending, kneeling and eight hours outdoors

Steady hands, because bruised fruit cannot be sold

Willing to work six days a week during the picking peak

Ready for an early start at 06:00 and for rain days

A few words of German or English for the daily briefing

Season from May to October, shorter periods possible

Net salary from 1740 up to 1910 EUR per month

Seasonal contract with the hours written down and paid weekly

Piece bonus on top once the picking rate is met

Bed in a farm room at 8 EUR a night, kitchen included

Breakfast and fruit from the farm during the shift

Transport from the yard to every field and back

Gloves, sun hat, rain gear and knee pads provided

Pickers who come back a second season are made row leaders for a group of eight, at a higher rate. The farm also keeps four people through the winter for pruning and the packing shed.

Open fields and low orchards with shaded water points, mobile toilets at every plot and a covered sorting shed for rainy days. Gloves, a sun hat, rain gear and knee pads come from the farm.