Picking Broccoli in Victoria
Location: Vinifera (10 mins Swan Hill, 15 mins Nyah West backpackers)
Pay Rate: $15ph inc tax
Work Visa: Required
Employer Prefers: locals or longer-staying backpackers (2months)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6
Employer provides:
- wetpants
- knife
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Sometimes ground is muddy (like quick sand)
- Sometimes broccoli is frosty (hands get freezing, feet get cold)
What to expect:
You walk behind a tractor containing 3 large boxes in a line of other workers. You size-pick broccoli (one broccoli per plant) by slashing it with a knife. The quickest way is to slash the plant below the cut, then hold it in your left hand while you slice it again with the right-hand at the cut required (see supermarket stores to see where it should be cut, but you'll learn on-the-job anyway). Then you pull off the stalks and leaves (leaving a few of the smaller leaves closest to the top for presentation).
Tips:
(1) Being that the ground is sometimes frosty, sometimes it is difficult to cut the broccoli, especially if your knife isn't as sharp as it could be (you're responsible to sharpen your own knife). To make it easier, you hold the broccoli with your hand, bend the plant as far as you can, and then make the slice, it cuts a lot easier.
(2) You can pull off 3-4 stalks at a time using your entire span of your fingers. Your hands will ache for the first couple of weeks, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be faster than any other pickers out there who only do 1 stalk at a time.
(3) Don't worry about presentation of the stalks, the broccoli doesn't have to have a smooth base (this worried me for the first few days and I was always ages behind the tractor while I was trying to "pretty-up" the broccoli, wasting valuable time, and making me go slower because I had to "throw" the broccoli further and always look up to see where the boxes were.
(4) There are 2 pickers to a box, and you only throw into the other boxes if you are asked or if you can see they have much less in it. Never throw the broccoli into the boxes if you are too far away, walk up and place it in so that you don't have to damage it.
(5) You feel like you get the hang of it on the first day, but it actually takes a couple of weeks for the process to become automatic.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West (cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
Pay Rate: $15ph inc tax
Work Visa: Required
Employer Prefers: locals or longer-staying backpackers (2months)
Hours: Winter 5-6 days per week
Pickers: 6
Employer provides:
- wetpants
- knife
Bring:
- waterproof gloves (dishwashing gloves ok)
- thick socks
- rubber boots
- raincoat
Outdoors work:
- Required to turn up even when raining
- Sometimes ground is muddy (like quick sand)
- Sometimes broccoli is frosty (hands get freezing, feet get cold)
What to expect:
You walk behind a tractor containing 3 large boxes in a line of other workers. You size-pick broccoli (one broccoli per plant) by slashing it with a knife. The quickest way is to slash the plant below the cut, then hold it in your left hand while you slice it again with the right-hand at the cut required (see supermarket stores to see where it should be cut, but you'll learn on-the-job anyway). Then you pull off the stalks and leaves (leaving a few of the smaller leaves closest to the top for presentation).
Tips:
(1) Being that the ground is sometimes frosty, sometimes it is difficult to cut the broccoli, especially if your knife isn't as sharp as it could be (you're responsible to sharpen your own knife). To make it easier, you hold the broccoli with your hand, bend the plant as far as you can, and then make the slice, it cuts a lot easier.
(2) You can pull off 3-4 stalks at a time using your entire span of your fingers. Your hands will ache for the first couple of weeks, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be faster than any other pickers out there who only do 1 stalk at a time.
(3) Don't worry about presentation of the stalks, the broccoli doesn't have to have a smooth base (this worried me for the first few days and I was always ages behind the tractor while I was trying to "pretty-up" the broccoli, wasting valuable time, and making me go slower because I had to "throw" the broccoli further and always look up to see where the boxes were.
(4) There are 2 pickers to a box, and you only throw into the other boxes if you are asked or if you can see they have much less in it. Never throw the broccoli into the boxes if you are too far away, walk up and place it in so that you don't have to damage it.
(5) You feel like you get the hang of it on the first day, but it actually takes a couple of weeks for the process to become automatic.
Accommodation:
- Grand Hotel Nyah West (cheapest option - $100pw inc transport)
- Nyah West Backpackers
- Nyah Village Caravan Park
