Job Description: Nursery Production Associate

Title: Nursery Production Associate 
Reports To: Production Manager 
Job Summary: Assist primarily with daily operations of plant production and maintenance of farm infrastructure and equipment.

Overview
Unity's Nursery Production Associate position is an excellent opportunity for a self-motivated individual who has a good knowledge of plant material, plant care techniques, and insect and disease identification. The successful candidate will be able to take direction and be willing to learn. This is a hands-on, highly physical position that requires heavy manual labor in all weather conditions. Some weekend work time may be needed. This is a seasonal position from March to December.

Unity Church Hill Nursery (UCHN) is a full-service garden center and production nursery offering a wide variety of high-quality plant material including trees, shrubs, and perennials with a focus on native plants grown with environmentally friendly methods. Unity is located between Chestertown and Centreville on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

Core Responsibilities

• Nursery production including sowing, transplanting, potting up, and moving plants.
• Maintenance of plant material in healthy and saleable condition including weeding, fertilizing, pruning/trimming, staking and tying up, irrigation/watering, IPM and more. Removal and disposal of dead or diseased plant material.
• Removing straw mulch from overwintered plants, moving plants out of tunnels (winter location), and spacing apart plants in early Spring. Then in late fall helping to prepare plants for the winter including moving plants into tunnels, pushing plants pot to pot and mulching with straw.
• Recognizing and monitoring plants outdoors and in greenhouses for pest and diseases. Implementing sustainable pest management practices as needed.
• Monitoring plant material for irrigation and nutrient needs.
• Monitoring irrigation to make sure it is operating properly. Cleaning and repairing irrigation systems as needed. May help with installation of new irrigation systems and winterizing of irrigation system.
• Monitoring and maintenance of appropriate growing environments for all greenhouses including heating, cooling, and ventilation to ensure they are operating correctly.
• Maintenance of growing areas including weeding, cleaning landscape fabric, clearing debris, etc. Helping to install/remove shade cloths on tunnels. Helping to install/remove greenhouse poly film or white poly on tunnels as needed. May help prepare new growing areas including grading, laying landscape fabric, constructing greenhouses/tunnels.
• Mowing grass and operating trimmer around buildings, tunnels, and growing areas.
• Planting, weeding, and general maintenance of nursery demo gardens and nursery stock gardens.
• May help with minor maintenance of nursery buildings and structures.
• Record-keeping and inventory management. Helping tag plant material with potting up id tags and price tags.
• Identifying, tagging as sold, pulling and loading of plant material for retail/wholesale orders.
• Operating farm vehicles and equipment such as gator, golf cart, tractor, loader, skidsteer, and dingo to haul crops and other farmworkers around farm/nursery during the workday.
• Unloading and restocking plant material and other supplies or equipment delivered to the nursery.
• Organizing nursery containers and other supplies.
• Driving a company vehicle to deliver plant material from our nursery to wholesale and retail customers.
• Performing other necessary duties as assigned by Unity management.
  

Preferred Qualifications and Competencies 

• Skilled horticultural nursery worker with a minimum 5 years verifiable experience in herbaceous perennial or woody plant production in an outdoor setting in a wholesale or retail nursery.
• Workers will be expected to perform any of the listed duties and work on any crop as assigned by the employer and/or worker’s supervisor.
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team. Good communication. Ability to follow direction.
• Effective time-management skills, high attention to detail and strong ability to multi-task.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Most activities will be outside. Prepare to work in all temperatures and weather conditions. This job can involve standing on your feet all day, frequent bending over and possibly heavy lifting for extended periods of time. Ability to lift and carry 60 lbs repetitively throughout the workday.
• Must not hinder another worker’s productivity.
• Use of a personal cell phone or other personal electronic device during work hours strictly prohibited except for work-related calls or emergencies and violation may result in immediate termination.
• If a worker drives a company vehicle during the period of employment then the driver must possess a valid, clean drivers’ license issued by a U.S. state and operate the company vehicle in accordance with the license restrictions and vehicle classifications applicable to that license.
• Ability to drive a skid steer, tractor, and/or front-end loader.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule depending on the season.
• Workers may be requested to submit to random drug or alcohol tests at no cost to the worker. Failure to comply with the request or testing positive may result in immediate termination. All testing will occur post-hire and is not a part of the interview process. Negative result may be required post-hire and before commencing work.
• Must commit to work the entire anticipated period of employment.

Education

• Degree in Plant Science, Agriculture, Environmental Science or other horticultural field or commensurate experience.

Compensation and Benefits

• $17.96 per hour
• Full-time. Average of 45 hours per week. Some weekend work may be required. 
• Seasonal: March 1st – December 15th