The Unbeetable beet harvest-Do it

[KBOnTheRoad]

I purposely chose this forum as I think this is a more appropriate place for this post where more people will read it and it relates to "all things RV..." as the tag line under the forum name says. This forum also allows for a more free give and take where one can voice an opposing opinion to mine...which I welcome.

As we came out of the Baja last March on our way to Alaska we decided that we would try to work the bet harvest in the Red River Valley of Minnesota after our return.

We applied very early (March) and were accepted. While at my Brothers house in Michigan in Late August I was called by ExpressPros the company who staffs the harvest and finds the Workcampers. They asked me if I could come early, Like TODAY, and work as a foreman at the Warren Minn. Beet Pile site. I did a telephone interview with a manager at American Crystal Sugar and told him I could be there in two days.

I can highly recommend this experience not only for the money but the interest factor too. And the money can be very good. I started work in late August for something called Pre-Pile. this typically lasts just a few days in my case only three. Then I spent the month of September working on, maintaining and modifying two of the giant Beet Piling machines getting them ready for the harvest.

Most Workcampers arrive in the last week of September with just enough time to attend some orientations and safety classes before the harvest starts on October 1st.

There are two shifts at each pile site. Day shift and Night. Night is colder but generally slower than days. Days are generally busier and a bit warmer. both shifts can be dogged by high winds and all kinds of terrible weather.

Most workcampers work as ground crew which is a hard job for sure. Shifts for all workers are 12 hours. You are standing and working outdoors, the noise level is tremendous trucks are maneuvering around you a Bobcat my be setting culverts and cleaning and the Foreman may be using the Big Cat Loader and it can be very slippery. You must be aware and on your toes at all times. Shoveling beets that fall on the ground is a big part of the job. And make no mistake they are HEAVY. some can be as large as a kids head.

One of the higher paying jobs is that of Piler Operator. You are in a cab about 20 feet off the ground and it is the PO's job to spot the trucks and get them dumped and operate the Piler. This is an important job and requires a degree of good coordination and judgement. The PO is responsible for the safety of the Ground Crew for his or her Piler. There are generally two Pilers per site.

Ground Crews also operate the Piler boom that swings from side to side and actually piles the beets and the boom operator has an important job. A beet Pile can be 18 - 22 feet high and needs to have a specific shape. The boom operator plays a pivotal role in getting the pile correct. Ground Crew also take samples for testing.

The Foreman is responsible for the entire site all of it's functions and a myriad of other responsibilities and about 14 employees. It's important for the Foreman to understand the Pilers well enough so that he can troubleshoot problems and get them running again when they fail. In the case of more catastrophic mechanical failure there are Mechanics on call.

The job and the entire process is very interesting and you may have a chance to work in the Scalehouse where the trucks are weighed or as a Piler Operator. A scalehouse job is very rare indeed as most have been long held by locals or long time returning workcampers.

The RV parking can be anything from a very nice park in Grand Forks to the Fairgrounds in Warren where I stayed. I liked being in Warren a lot. It was a beautiful small town filled with friendly people and everything (almost) that one could need.

The Pay: The pay can be very good. You work 12 hour shifts every day. You are paid overtime for ALL hours over 8 in a regular day. So a regular day gets you 4 hours or a little more of overtime. Saturdays are paid at time and a half and Sundays at double time. There is a caveat; you must be available and at work to qualify for the premium pay days and not have any unexcused absences.

There are two bonuses that are paid and they are not paid until December. The first is from ExpressPros/American Crystal Sugar which for your first year will be 5 percent of pay DURING THE HARVEST. Your training pay does not count.

The other bonus is paid by the Growers themselves directly to those workers who have stuck it out to the very last day of the harvest at their site. the amount of this is decided by the growers and varies.

ExpressPros were professional and paid exactly what was due in every case I am aware of and that includes all 14 people that worked for me and qualified for bonuses. I think that people who have pay problems generally have misunderstood the rules or forgot what days were actually worked.

Keep in mind that because of weather either too cold or hot my stop the harvest for a shift or a day or more. These days off can be a welcome thing. At my harvest we worked a total of 17 days and out of that 12 days straight. we had two weekends.

This was a great experience and it is undeniably hard work. But if you are in fairly decent shape, health-wise, you should be able to do it with few problems.

As for the money I made a bit more than $10,000.00 from 23 Aug to 17 October with only 17 days of that being actual Harvest with any overtime. (This does not include my 5 percent bonus) My friend and traveling companion who worked in the scale house made over $3000 however she worked only during the 17 days of harvest plus a few days of training.

So the next Beet Harvest is next fall so why write this now? Well anyone who is considering it should do some research and give careful thought to it. And there are benefits to signing up early. After the holiday certainly FEB or March is not too early.

I would urge anyone interested to give it a try. It is quite an experience.

[RV_daytrader]

WOW...12 Hour shifts doing the same boring thing in a windy, muddy spot???...I don't need $$$ that bad...but to each their own!

[CopilotCompanio]

This was an interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to share it!

[MNGeeks61]

Grew up on a farm too, and back then it was a heck of a lot more pay for the "drudge" work.

Benefits: I pretty much played music all night while operating the piler. It's not as bad being an operator as it is to be a tare/sample taker or general cleanup. Sample takers are a bit less fun. Operators are shielded from the cold at least partially. If you're down on the ground you get really muddy.

But I can see if that's not someone's cup of tea. It can be semi-boring and it's not easy work.

Here's a video of some of the requirements.

Click

[nickthehunter]

OOPs - double post

[nickthehunter]

fj12ryder wrote:
Honestly I can't imagine volunteering for that kind of work. I grew up on a farm and simply can't imagine someone finding that kind of work attractive. Sounds like pure drudge work to me.

Exactly, I worked enough on the farm as a kid to last me a lifetime. Convinced me I needed to go to college and get the hell off the farm.

[Moderator]

Moved from "General" as this is a Workamping topic, as mentioned by the OP.

[fj12ryder]

Honestly I can't imagine volunteering for that kind of work. I grew up on a farm and simply can't imagine someone finding that kind of work attractive. Sounds like pure drudge work to me.

[NYCgrrl]

Gee, I wonder if my ex husband read a similar article before deciding to harvest fresh herbs in the mountains of France for a living ? Always makes me giggle inwardly.
Now don't get bent out of shape if you enjoy this type of manual work; the ex didn't. And it made me soooo happy in an indirect payback kinda way:) and insert an angel sprouting devil's horns emoticon.

[MNGeeks61]

I worked there 22 years ago to make some extra money. That's what bought my wife's wedding ring.

You did forget to mention how muddy it can be 🙂 it's not a clean job by any stretch of the imagination. I was a piler operator back then on the Standard model, by now they probably have two "Supers" with each one able to dump two trucks. As for the scalehouse folks, yes most of them are the locals.

It's definitely an experience, for sure.

edit: you did say it was slippery and of course there's a lot of clay there...at least off to the sides. The main concrete pad is ok if it's not raining.

[Grit_dog]

That's a cool experience to make some $ on the road. Thanks for sharing