Hundreds of kilos on your fork: ‘It’s still a thrill’

From nurse to machine operator and from Limburg to Australia. Not an everyday career history, but certainly that of Pascal Moens (30). Through AB Werkt, he was able to start work as a forklift driver and soon progressed to become a machine operator. A varied occupation with many challenges: no day is the same. Pascal from Limburg is right at home at fruit cooperative Fruit Masters. So it’s odd to think that he once started training as a nurse. ‘That was a fun try-out, but totally not for me. I brought my job home, so I couldn’t keep it separate from my private life. In the fruit trade, it is very different, where the most you take home is an apple,’ he says laughing.

No sooner said than done

How did Pascal get into fruit growing? It all started with a documentary. ‘The film highlighted the landscape of Australia. It then dawned on me: I have to go there.’ No sooner said than done Pascal flew – with his work visa in his pocket – to Mildura. ‘With a work visa, you obviously have to work. Coincidentally, an Australian friend of mine had a vacancy in citrus fruit farming. There, people sorted, packed and shipped the fruit at high speed. I was immediately sold: this is what I want.’

Rotten apples discarded

Back in the Netherlands, Pascal applied to Fruit Masters through AB Werkt, took a crash course in machine management and within two months he was officially a machine operator. ‘I make sure we only have Class 1 apples left.’ He does this with a sorting machine that fully scans each piece of fruit using dozens of cameras. If they’re rotten, shrivelled or misshapen, they are singled out. ‘Tuning that machine is bespoke. That’s one of the things I am responsible for.’  

More than machines

Pascal loves the variety of his job, which is also the reason he has now been doing it for eleven years. ‘Troubleshooting, keeping in touch with farmers, doing paperwork and operating the forklift – it’s all part of the job,’ he says. Incidentally, you are not allowed to operate such a forklift just like that. ‘I obtained a certificate some time ago. At Fruit Masters, you sometimes carry loads of hundreds of kilos. That continues to give a thrill.’ 

Sorry, my mistake!

Thrill or not, a two-thousand-kilo forklift is likely to give rise to dangerous situations. ‘Sure, things can go wrong,’ Pascal begins. ‘For example, one of those things drove over my foot once. Fortunately, I was wearing my work boots, as prescribed.’ Given that accidents will happen, safety is paramount in the food processing industry. Pascal sums up: ‘Steel toe work shoes, road markings on the floor, regular maintenance, reflective jackets and fencing everywhere.’ ‘And these rules are all obeyed, no one on the team has a problem with that.’

Fun in all languages

Another thing that makes Pascal happy: his team. ‘We are an informal team of about twenty people, many of whom are from Poland and Romania. We usually communicate in English and that actually always goes well.’ Pascal enjoys working with them. ‘I teach them Dutch words and phrases. They are teaching me Polish and Romanian. We can’t have whole conversations yet, but you don’t need that to have fun together.’

Love of land

Pascal loves nature and everything it has to offer. ‘That is a must to work in this sector,’ Pascal explains. ‘We respect farmer and land, and all of us go for the highest quality.’ But that’s not the only thing you need to have in you. ‘Ability to cope with a certain level of stress is useful – that conveyor belt just won’t stop. So is an eye for detail, but that’s something you can quickly develop here.’ He concludes by saying: ‘Do you have a green heart? If so, you are more than welcome here.’