Cropthorne Farm in Delta, BC is seeking a Field Crew!
Are you interested in learning about year-round vegetable growing? Do you love working outside? Join our great crew! Learn more below.
ABOUT Cropthorne Farm
Cropthorne Farm is a 24 acre, certified organic market vegetable farm located on Westham Island near Ladner, BC. We harvest every week of the year and sell our produce at 2 weekly farmers markets in Vancouver, at our farmstand, through our 3 seasonal CSA programs serving 300+ members and to top Vancouver restaurants.
We focus on annual field crops, in addition we have 4 greenhouses for summer crops as well as winter growing. We are passionate farmers who love what we do and are excited to share our knowledge with others as well as creating a strong sense of community both within our farm team and beyond into the greater community.
We believe in building healthy soil through cover cropping, crop rotation, reduced compaction and compost. We believe healthy, nutrient rich soils create healthy, nutrient dense food.
Ecology and biodiversity are key. We are proud to dedicate time and space to barn owl boxes, to planting hedgerows and flowering plants for beneficial insects and wildlife, alike.
We believe that our crew health is just as important as crop health and we are proud to be a training ground for future farmers, with many ‘alumni’ having started their own farms.
With the help of crew, family and the fertile farmland of the Fraser Delta, we are able to produce some of the best Certified Organic produce in our region.
We are hiring for our Farm Crew – someone to join us from spring until early winter, with the possibility of joining our year-round permanent crew. Working as a part of the Farm Crew member means being involved in all aspects of vegetable production; our farm crew gets a detailed on-the job understanding of planting, cultivating, harvesting, washing and packing in diverse farm settings such as inside the greenhouse, out in the fields, and inside the packhouse. This position could also spend one to two days a week as part of our farmstand crew, which would involve setting up our stand and serving customers.
DESIRED QUALITIES
Ideally you have some previous vegetable farming or outdoor work experience and a keen interest for agriculture. More importantly you can hustle and thrive in a process orientated environment. You enjoy being part of a team, are a positive team mate and can communicate easily and effectively with the rest of the crew.
This position is great for someone with some farming background yet wants to hone their skills. The hard skills are teachable, passion and hustle are not.
We are also looking for someone with:
- Preferably one season of production based, vegetable farm experience
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Open-minded, inclusive, and respectful
- Ability to work well in both a team environment and independently
- Attention to detail and quality
- Previous customer service skills an asset
- Fluent in English, knowledge of Spanish an asset.
- Physically capable of carrying out tasks which require the ability to bend for long periods of time, lift up to 20K
- Ability to work in all weather conditions
- Must have reliable means of transport (nearest bus route is 8 km) There are opportunities to commute with fellow staff members.
- Must be able to legally work in Canada
JOB TASKS
- Weeding and transplanting with tools and hands
- Harvesting, cleaning, bunching and washing vegetables for cold storage
- Accurately packing orders for farmers markets, CSA, restaurants and wholesale accounts
- Working at the farmstand, ringing customers in, setting up and restocking
JOB DETAILS
Term: March, April or May until Decemeber
Hours per week: 40-45 hours per week, Tuesday to Saturday or Sunday to Thursday. This is a full-time, contract position.
Wage: $18-19.50/hour (based on experience) plus 4% vacation plus access to farm produce and flowers and five paid sick days.
While this position is seasonal, we would love to have the right candidate overwinter and join our permanent full-time crew should they be a good fit. Many people on our field team have moved up into more senior roles.
Please note there is no on-farm housing available.
TO APPLY
Please send resume and cover letter to lydia@cropthornefarm.com
Deadline to apply: March 17, 2023
When applying, please mention you saw this posting at youngagrarians.org
LEARN MORE ABOUT Cropthorne Farm
Website: http://www.cropthornefarm.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cropthornefarm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cropthornefarmstand/?hl=en
View more Farm Jobs and Apprenticeships on our Job Board
