Mason St City Farm in Victoria, BC is seeking a Farm Site Manager!
ABOUT Mason St City Farm
We are a small and highly productive urban regenerative farm nestled in the heart of
Victoria BC just 3 blocks from City Hall. We enjoy a vibrant and interactive relationship
with our plentiful neighbours and customers.
For the past 12 years we have grown produce with our home produced compost and
organic soil amendments. We are a non-spray, non GMO, and low till ‘pedestrian’ urban
farm, primarily relying on hand-tools for production.
Traditionally we engage in a lot of food education for youth and adults as part of our
production methods. For 2025 we are running a very simplified production model and
will not be focused on education.
We service our community through various restaurants, our CSA box program, our
urban farm stand and local grocers.
We grow food with living soil, relying heavily on home produced compost, taking materials from the urban waste stream and combining them with our chicken poop. We use alfalfa and lime as our primary amendment and mulch with 10 cm of leaves and manure every winter.
We don’t use machines and no tillers. Everything is done by hand. Over the past year the level of our farm has risen about 20 cm above the city’s edge! We are not capable of acquiring Organic status due to our urban environment.
DESIRED QUALITIES
- Significant experience growing salad greens.
- Extensive Experience with small scale agriculture. Minimum 4 seasons.
- Some management experience.
- Very Strong Work Ethic: Thrives on high pace and physically labour intensive environments.
- Reliable, accountable, direct and works independently.
- Self Motivated: Takes initiative, having a strong internal drive to complete tasks efficiently.
- Problem Solver: Able to adapt to challenges, make quick decisions and troubleshoot issues effectively.
- Detail Oriented: Pays close attention to quality and productivity. Ready to identify when a plan isn’t following through properly and will make adjustments.
- Team Management Skills: Can direct and mentor a small team. Confident with direct communication and humble to receive valuable feedback from staff.
- Passionate: You absolutely adore growing delicious healthy local produce!!
- Organized and Efficient: It excites you to plan and prioritize workflow for the day and you readily make adjustments to meet changing circumstances and needs.
- Communication Skills: Mason St Farm is a very social place. Staff aside, many visitors and customers will show up and want to say hi. Friendliness combined with direct boundary assertion is an asset.
POSITION TASKS
- The Farm Site Manager will be responsible for managing all aspects of production, processing and distribution of produce for our market garden. The manager will also be the primary labourer for this small, high yielding operation.
- The Manager will direct a seasonal part time staff of one. There will also be periodic volunteer direction to support production and processing.
- The manager will coordinate directly with chefs for orders.
- Mason St Farm is an urban farm and thus a very dynamically social place. The farm manager will be the face of Mason St Farm and will be interacting with the public regularly.
- We are seeking a more permanent filling of this position to the right candidate. *For 2025, the manager will NOT be responsible for crop selection, materials acquisition, marketing, hiring. Some of these elements will change for 2026.
Training Schedule:
The farm manager will be closely supported by Jesse for a training period from March 2025 to June 2025.
POSITION DETAILS
Term: Start Date will be late February. Our season usually finishes around the end of October. This is a long term position with potential for advancement.
Hours per week: 30-40
Wage: $22-$26 per hour based on experience. Perks include produce and Plant Starters. We run a thriving urban edible plant nursery on site. There may be potential for low income housing support.
TO APPLY
Please submit your resume and and answers to the following questions to masonstreetfarm@gmail.com.
- Briefly describe your experience growing salad greens. What is your favourite technique?
- What are the 2 most important traits of a farm manager who is also the primary labourer of a small scale urban farm?
- How much Compost have you made in your life? (estimate in cubic yards)
- What do you think about compost? How do you prefer to make it?
- What is your favourite farm hand tool and why
- How would your friends rate your enjoyment of very physical work
- How would your current/former employers rate your enjoyment of very physical work?
- What is more important? Speed or Quality?
- Describe a time when you had to provide feedback to someone who wasn’t meeting expectations. How did you approach the conversation and what was the outcome?
- What would be your top 3 book recommendations?
Deadline to apply: February 8th 2025
When applying, please mention you saw this posting at youngagrarians.org
Please note that Young Agrarians does not have the capacity to pre-screen job opportunities. Please screen your potential employer to ensure that you are entering into a fair exchange that meets your needs and expectations. Try asking the farm for references of past workers, or ask people in the community if you are unsure.
LEARN MORE ABOUT Mason St City Farm
Website: masonstreetfarm.com
Facebook: facebook.com/masonstreetcityfarm
Instagram: @masonstreetfarm