Google Links

Follow the links below to find material targeted to the unit's elements, performance criteria, required skills and knowledge

Elements and Performance Criteria

1. 1 Perform routine assessment of plant products for harvest
   • Estimate of crop maturity is reported to the supervisor.
2. 2 Prepare equipment for harvesting
   • Tools, equipment and machinery appropriate to the task being undertaken are selected.
   • Pre-operational and safety checks are carried out on tools, equipment and machinery according to manufacturers specifications and written work procedures.
   • Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) hazards are identified and reported to the supervisor.
   • Suitable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is selected, used and maintained.
3. 3 Harvest the crop
   • .Harvesting procedures minimise plant damage.
   • Harvesting the crop is undertaken according to OHS requirements.
   • Basic sorting and grading of the crop is carried out.
   • Harvesting tools, equipment and machinery are cleaned and maintained.
   • Problems are reported to the supervisor.
4. 4 Transport the crop
   • Safe manual handling techniques are employed when handling containers.
   • Containers are moved and stacked in such a way that minimises damage to the crop.
   • Temperature of the crop is maintained at the levels set by industry and written work procedures.
   • The crop is transported from the field to the processing or storage area.
   • Containers are maintained in good working order.

Required Skills

Required skills

assess the readiness of produce for picking use the correct crop harvesting technique the efficiently stack produce without damage or loss transport produce select and grade produce participate in teams and contribute to team objectives dispose of outofstandard plant material in an environmentally aware and sensitive manner such as the careful disposal of rotten produce to minimise smell and the spread of insect pests and disease use literacy skills to follow sequenced written instructions and record information accurately and legibly use oral communication skillslanguage competence to fulfil the job role as specified by the organisation including questioning active listening asking for clarification and seeking advice from supervisor use numeracy skills to estimate calculate and record routine workplace measures use interpersonal skills to relate to people from a range of social cultural and ethnic backgrounds and with a range of physical and mental abilities

Required knowledge

recognition of crop maturity of a range of crops enterprise quality procedures grading characteristics of each crop the importance of maintaining quality of produce including cooling requirements and quick transport from field to processing areas the effect of adverse climatic conditions eg rain hail extreme wind with dust or very high ultraviolet radiation which may downgrade the quality of affected crop prevent or impede harvest operations or severely influence the time taken to complete the harvest program

Evidence Required

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria required skills and knowledge range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package
Overview of assessment
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit	The evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit must be relevant to workplace operations and satisfy holistically all of the requirements of the performance criteria and required skills and knowledge and include achievement of the following estimate the readiness of produce for picking harvest the crop using the correct technique stack produce in containers without causing damage or losses transport produce from the field according to enterprise requirements select and grade produce at picking where required
Context of and specific resources for assessment	Competency requires the application of work practices under work conditions Selection and use of resources for some worksites may differ due to the regional or enterprise circumstances

---

Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole.
Crops may include:	a wide variety of horticultural crops including those for human consumption.
Horticultural crops may include:	all fruit vegetables herbs flowers foliage bulbs tubers nuts fungi wild harvest plants oils olives grains seeds hops other specialised crops not specifically named as broad acre crops.
Harvesting practices may include:	the correct use of equipment select picking reporting or recording tallies removing out-of-type plants removing rotten or immature fruit.

---