Jobs

At Stocks Farm, we have a team of permanent staff and seasonal staff are recruited for the peak times of year.

Our Peak periods for work are:

Spring: Hop Training and Apple Tree Pruning.

In Spring, a small team is required to train the hops – this involves “twiddling” the hops onto the string. The two strongest hop shoots are chosen and need to be trained up the string. For more information about Hop Tying, click HERE.

Apple Tree pruning in the spring promotes new growth and encourages blossom. Trees are checked for damage and disease before the busy growing season ahead.

Autumn: Hop Picking and Apple Picking

Autumn is our busiest time of year, and often we can be picking hops and apples at the same time!

Hop picking comprises of two teams – the field team, and the shed team. The field team work on the trailer – one up in the “crow’s nest” at the top of the trailer cutting the bines from the top, with the other team members pulling and laying them in the trailer. The bines then head to the shed where the team at the front of the machine unload the bines and put them onto the track, and the back team pick sticks and debris from the hops as they come through. For more information about hop picking, click HERE.

Apple picking is a very busy time of year, but can be sporadic, depending on the weather and the sugar levels of the fruit. We don’t pick in heavy rain as it can cause the fruit to deteriorate too quickly. In order to pick the fruit at it’s optimum, the days can be long to achieve our targets. There are platform teams who operate on a secure platform to pick fruit from the top of the trees, and ground teams who pick lower fruit. Each person is supplied with a picking bucket which is has sturdy padded straps for comfort whilst picking, and will need to pick fruit to a required specification. For more information about the apple harvest, click HERE.

We work closely with Fruitful Jobs to recruit our seasonal workers – please click HERE to go through to their website if you are interested in working at Stocks Farm throughout our farming year.