Some of the duties are:
Pruning
We have over 120,000 cherry and nashi trees and this is a job that
never stops. This can consist of heavy winter pruning right through to light
summer pruning and tree training. Many of the trees are quite young and require
extensive bending and tying.
Nashi bud thinning
Nashi fruit buds must be extensively thinned in late winter to remove 90%
of the potential crop. This is a major part of the crop regulating process
and is required because only large high quality fruit can be successfully
marketed.
Nashi flower thinning
This is done to about 15000 trees in early spring to help regulate crop load.
Fruit Thinning
This begins once the fruitlets have formed. This activity can vary from year
to year according to the weather conditions during flowering and the resulting
level of fruit-set.
All the work associated with nashi thinning is meticulous and time consuming but is a critical part of production of large evenly shaped fruit demanded by local and international consumers.
Cherry Picking and Packing
This is the busiest period at Torrens Valley Orchards. From early December
until late January we will employ many hundreds of people. All cherries must
be picked carefully by hand and quickly brought into our packing facility.
Wages are paid hourly and not “piece work” so that the fruit has
fewer tendencies to be damaged and more suitable to our discerning buyers.
The handling and packing process is possibly the most critical as our major
buyers all demand fresh, flawless fruit. All damaged, split and inferior fruit
must be removed by hand.
We also have a wide range of general duties, which may consist of office work, painting, maintenance, tree planting, and tractor driving, and also the use of quad motorbikes. Wherever possible we use the skills that our travellers may have for repairing machinery, constructing sheds and filter stations and for staff management.
The tractor work may consist of spraying, slashing, fertilizing, ripping, drainage work, tree removal etc.
Packing nashi
This work continues from mid February until late November. We are the major
supplier to the supermarkets and this is the best work available on cold wet
winter days.
Remuneration
This varies throughout the year. But preference is given to travellers who are on site. Work is usually only Monday to Friday 7.30am until 4pm. During the cherry season the travellers often play a very critical role. Hours are usually much longer and the work can involve a lot of responsibility. Net pay is often in excess of $500 per week after tax and accommodation.
Accommodation
We
regularly have a small crew of travellers living here in “hostel-like”
accommodation. The facilities are three years old and have their own kitchen
shower and toilets.
There are two dormitories. We are 15 minutes walk from the nearest town and the city of Adelaide is 25 minutes further away by bus. There is also a caravan park near by for those with a vehicle