Our Salmo client is recruiting for:

A Lead Farm Hand for a garlic farm oversees daily field operations, leads seasonal crews, and handles specialized garlic production tasks from planting to post-harvest curing.

Must drive tractor.
Role Type: Full time or seasonal lead position (peak activity during fall planting and summer harvest).
Reports To: Farm Manager or Farm Owner.
Supervises: 3 to 10 field crew members.

Key ResponsibilitiesCrop Production & Field Work
Soil & Bed Prep: Tilling, fertilizing, laying drip tape, and shaping beds for optimal garlic clove spacing.
Planting: Overseeing manual or mechanical planting of individual garlic cloves at correct depths and orientations (typically in autumn).
Field Maintenance: Managing weed control (hand-weeding, mechanical cultivation, and mulching) and monitoring drip irrigation schedules.
Scapes & Pruning: Directing the removal of garlic scapes in late spring to maximize bulb growth.
Harvesting: Timing and executing the harvest (lifting bulbs by hand forks or mechanical harvesters) to prevent bruising. [1, 2]

Leadership & Crew Management
Delegation: Assigning daily tasks to farm hands and setting quality and pace expectations.
Training:



Instructing current workers on proper harvesting, cleaning, and safety procedures.
Quality Control: Inspecting harvested garlic for damage, size uniformity, and disease.

Post-Harvest Processing & Storage
Curing & Trimming: Managing the drying, curing, root trimming, and stalk cutting processes.
Sorting & Packaging: Overseeing the grading, cleaning of residual dirt, and crating or bagging of bulbs for wholesale or direct-to-consumer markets.
Inventory Tracking: Recording yields, storage temperatures, and outgoing shipments.

Qualifications & Skills
Experience: 1–2 seasons of general crop farming, with specific knowledge of allium (garlic/onion) lifecycles.
Physical Stamina: Ability to lift heavy crates (up to 50 lbs), kneel, bend, and work outdoors in all weather conditions.
Leadership: Robust communication skills and the ability to motivate and guide a small crew.
Equipment Operation: Experience operating small tractors, tillers, irrigation systems, and harvest tools.

Pay: $30.00-$35.00 per hour

Expected hours: No less than 40.0 per week

Benefits:
Casual dress
On-site parking

Work Location: In person

📌 Lead Farm Hand Must Have Tractor Experience Salmo
🏢 MB Recruitment
📍 Salmo