Raegan Aldred, 17, and Benjamin Moore, 18, are both in their second year working at the experiment station, and are assisting with research in the entomology lab. "It gives them the potential to learn about something they never knew about before, and potentially to do as a career," he said. While high schoolers don't have to have a science background to get hired, it does help. "The principal investigator will hire students based upon need," said center director Phil Hamm. The Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, operated through Oregon State University, hires a handful of high school students, as well as college and graduate students, to assist with lab work every summer. Some agricultural jobs in the area are more research-based. Larger companies like Atkinson Staffing hire students every summer to work in the fields starting at age 15, mostly weeding around crops in Hermiston and Boardman. Rarely are teens out in the field, Bellinger said. "Some drive forklifts - not very many," Bellinger said, noting that kids have to be a certain age to operate machinery. They will help pack them into boxes for small-market orders, and make lids and pallets. Most teens work on the sorting line, processing, weighing and dividing up melons. He said he hires anywhere from five to 10 teens per summer, and many are friends of his high school-age sons, or people they already know. "It's kind of a networking thing," said Jack Bellinger, owner of Bellinger Farms. It's just common sense."įor many teens, securing a seasonal job is easier if they know someone in the industry. "It's farm labor - anything and everything," he said, as he sorted through a box full of sprinkler heads that had been pulled out of the blueberry fields. Sammy Moore, 16, is in his second summer at Golden Valley Farms. Operating the combine is a close second, he said, but he's had to remind himself how big the machine is - even if it doesn't travel faster than 2 miles per hour. "Mostly because then I understand as much as I can." "I probably enjoy helping in the mechanical shop most," he said. Trevor Horn, 17, is a Hermiston High School student in his first year working for Ditchen.Īs he drove a combine harvesting Kentucky bluegrass seed, Horn said he has been asked to do every type of task on the farm since he started working a few weeks ago. This year, he hired eight high school students and three college students. Still, Ditchen said, he likes hiring high school and college kids to work for him. "The jobs are out there, but it's a hard job." "I've turned a lot of kids away this year," he said. He said that lack of familiarity requires employers to spend more time training kids on how to operate and be safe around equipment. For so many kids, their first job is at 16. "When I was growing up, you saw more younger people working simpler jobs on a farm, like picking berries," he said. In less than 20 years, most machinery has become automated, which limits the number of jobs teens are needed to do. He said the rapid changes in technology has also altered the way farms operate. Among other restrictions, workers under the age of 16 are prohibited from working in places where power-driven machinery is used. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has several requirements for employing minors both under 16, and under 18. they can't work too many hours," Ditchen said. PENDLETON - Whether pulling weeds, picking berries or driving machinery, many people found their first job on a farm.įor Umatilla County kids, farm labor has been one of many options for making money in the summer, but the way young workers fit into the agricultural industry has seen major changes in the past several years.ĭarrin Ditchen, owner of Golden Valley Farms East in Stanfield, said his minimum hiring age is 16, the age teens have to be to operate heavy equipment.
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