Farm Manager
- Date Posted December 12, 2024
- Location Kennett Square, PA
- Category Agriculture
- Job type Full-Time
Company description
Full Table farm is a small vegetable farm in beautiful Chester County, Pennsylvania. We sell our produce at farmer's markets, wholesale to restaurants, and off of a farm stand on the property. We farm using organic practices and low till methods in a market garden style. Most of our work is done with basic hand tools. 2025 will be Full Table Farm’s 4th season. Our local community is very good to us and we have a rapidly growing community of dedicated and enthusiastic customers. We’re committed to providing our customers with extremely delicious and high quality produce. We have a program set up with our local food bank so that everything we grow goes to good use and everyone in our community can access high quality produce.
Full Table Farm is values driven with a focus on a great quality of life for everyone who works here. We are striving to be a place where folks enjoy working, feel valued for their contributions and are seen as whole people. Our farm is queer owned and operated. In a time that is often hostile to queer folks, we unapologetically love LGBTQ people. Anyone who works here needs to be LGBTQ affirming.
Job description
This is a great job for an experienced farm employee interested in running their own farm one day! We will also consider a farm couple looking to share the job. The farm manager will be running the day to day operation of Full Table Farm while the owner is on parental leave. The manager will ensure that the crew is running efficiently and successfully in order to produce high quality products & ensure overall farm heath. They will lead & coordinate harvest, planting, crop maintenance, wash/pack and other aspects of our farm. Our farm is small and everyone on the farm works in almost all parts of the operation. The farm manager will be weeding, cleaning and harvesting alongside the crew.
The farmer/owner will be available for weekly field walks, check-ins and very occasionally filling in. Starting in late summer the farmer/owner will be back to work part time. All supplies will be purchased and there will be a detailed crop plan, seeding schedule, transplanting schedule, and some SOPs for the farm manager to follow. The manager is not expected to re-invent the wheel, the farm is set up to run well and also there are certainly many places the manager can make there own mark on the farm. This is a big role and we want you to succeed! The farmer/owner is committed to hiring enough staff to keep the workload reasonable, advising the manager and acting as guard rails so that the farm has a successful season.
Responsibilities
- Manage weekly work flow by prioritizing to-do list
- Supervise and train the crew
- Ensure the days tasks are planned out & ready to go prior to the start of each day
- Communicate with staff, farm owner, farmers markets and customers as needed
- Create weekly harvest and wholesale availability lists
- Work some hours most weekends (harvesting, irrigation, farm stand) and delegate the rest
- Attend 1 farmers market and fill in at other markets when needed
- Uphold high standards for quality
- Keep everyone working efficiently so that work hours stay reasonable
- Work hard to create and maintain a positive farm culture
- Supervise, train, delegate and complete all tasks related to: Irrigation, Harvest, Wash/pack, Seeding, Transplanting, Bed prep, Trellising, Weed and Pest management, Farmers Market Prep
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum 3 seasons on a vegetable farm with preference for applicants with managing experience (crew lead, field manager, etc)
- Drivers license (manager needs to be able to drive our van)
- Able to work on your feet all day, work in heat and cold, lift 50 lbs
- Basic math skills
- Basic computer skills: email, google docs/sheets, ability to learn the app we use for farm planning, facebook and instagram
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Great time management and prioritization skills
- Positive mentality and friendly demeanor when interacting with co-workers and customers
- Strong problem-solving skills
- Strong work ethic and desire to get the job done.
- Someone who enjoys managing many moving parts at one time and can keeping a cool head while doing so
- Someone who confidently makes decisions
- Reliable, responsible and self-motivated individual who is open to receiving feedback
- Ability to work effectively and maintain deadlines with limited supervision
- Must be able to empower co-workers to succeed in their daily work
- Effective and respectful communicator
- Possesses some knowledge of all aspects of small organic vegetable farm operation and an interest in learning more
Hours:
Full time (usually 45-50 hours a week, less in the early spring/late fall, occasionally more mid-season)
Generally, Monday-Friday with 2 shorter weekend days worked a month. We work many holidays (memorial day, 4th of July etc). You are encouraged to take days off (5 paid, other days are unpaid).
Position Period:
February 2025-November 2025, possibility to stay on year round
Compensation
this position is: hourly, $20/hr +Application instructions
If you are not registered, you'll be prompted to do so. Don't worry, it's free!Deadline
no deadline