Re: [apple-crop] Employee vs. Contract labor

[rollinsorchards]

I also suggest that you get clarification from your insurance company.  They 
may have a stricter definition.

My interpretation of my insurance policy is:  if the person performing the work 
has their own insurance policy to cover work done for others then they qualify 
as contracted labor.  Anyone without their own insurance is an employee for 
insurance purposes, regardless of how they are paid. 



Ernest Rollins
Owner
Rollins Orchards, Garland, Maine, USA
A Family Farm since 1821
rollinsorcha...@gmail.com
www.RollinsOrchards.com
 

Ernest Rollins
Rollins Orchards
Garland, Maine

-Original Message-
From: Mark  Helen Angermayer angermay...@gmail.com
Sender: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2015 10:01:44 
To: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net
Reply-To: Apple-crop discussion list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net
Subject: [apple-crop] Employee vs. Contract labor

I plan to hire some high school kids to help me thin fruit this year.
They will only be working for about a month it takes to thin the
fruit.

I'm uncertain if this temporary employment  would fall under employees
or contract labor.  I've looked at the definitions, but still unclear.

Some of the requirements of contract labor vs. employees are who
provides tools, and who defines work schedule.  Obviously there are no
tools required for fruit thinning, other than one's hands.  I intend
be flexible on when the kids can work, so am not setting work times.
The kids would be hired individually, not as a thinning crew.

The dollar cost is the same to me either way (because I plan on paying
more for contract labor and less for employees) but the paperwork is
less for contract labor.  I'm a very small commercial grower, so FUTA
is not a consideration.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mark Angermayer
Tubby Fruits Peach Orchard
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Re: [apple-crop] Sizing cold storage

[rollinsorchards]

Nick,

The size of a storage will depend on a lot of factors.  

1). How long is your harvest period?  The apples that we picked in August are 
sold long before we pick the last of the apples in October.  

2). How long do your varieties keep.  If you grow something highly in demand 
you might ask a higher price and have to store them until people want them.  
That may be November some years and it may be March other years.

3) How close is your alternative when your storage is full? I work with another 
orchard 15 miles away to  store some excess fruit when I have a bumper crop.

4)How much do you expect to sell in a month?  Conventional wisdom is that you 
have six to eight weeks to sell the apples once you break open a CA storage 
room. 

5) Do you plan on using Smartfresh?  You can have a small room where you 
smartfresh a few days harvest before moving it to the main storage room, or 
depending on the variety you can size a room for a week's harvest and 
smartfresh it all together.

6). Are you planning on growing any varieties with special chilling 
requirements.  Honeycrisp require several days at 50 degrees before putting 
them in a colder room.  


I am afraid I didn't give you answers so much as more questions to ask 
yourself.  Our storage capacity is 75% of our maximum yield and it gets pretty 
tight this time of year, but is sufficient 7 out of 10 years. I would suggest 
that you have a plan to add more storage capacity if the need arises than go 
whole hog at first.



Ernest Rollins
Owner
Rollins Orchards, Garland, Maine, USA
A Family Farm since 1821
rollinsorcha...@gmail.com
www.RollinsOrchards.com
 
 


--Original Message--
From: Nick Lucking
Sender: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net
To: Apple-Crop virtual orchard
ReplyTo: Apple-Crop virtual orchard
Subject: [apple-crop] Sizing cold storage
Sent: Oct 26, 2014 11:20 PM

Does anyone have any good guides on how large a cold storage facility  
should be on your orchard?  For example if one was to grow 15,000 bu.  
how much should you have capacity for storing, 50%, 75%?  I can't  
really find much info on this.

Cheers,

Nick Lucking
Cannon Valley Orchard
Cannon Falls, MN
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Ernest Rollins
Rollins Orchards
Garland, Maine
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