We grow organically on 7 acres, a range of minimum tillage field scale veg and intensive no dig polytunnels, as well as agroforestry and trained fruit trees. We involve volunteers in many different aspects of production, with sessions running on almost every day of the week. We have a well established 6 year rotation outdoors, and sell predominantly into our own online farm shop (approx £50-£60k in wholesale value), as well as external wholesale of year-round salad and other high value produce (approx £20-£30k).

In our farm community, we are working to cultivate a culture of care, and are exploring how best we can look after the people on the farm, as well as caring for the land. This includes:

• Encouraging awareness of our own changing energy and capacity, and allowing for flexibility within our working practices to respond to this
• Encouraging us to know our boundaries and cultivate a healthy work-life balance
• Being willing to give and receive feedback in order to build understanding of each other and our needs

The team currently consists of two co-head growers, two paid trainees, in their first and second years of the traineeship, and one seasonal grower. While some responsibilities are shared solely between the head growers, on the whole we aim to work collaboratively and distribute responsibilities, to enhance the learning experience of our trainees. With one of our co-head growers leaving, we are looking to replace this level of experience in the team.

As mentioned above, this role is to be working in collaboration with another experienced grower. We can be flexible about how this collaboration looks, and how the following responsibilities are shared depending on your skills, experience and interests. Main responsibilities include:

• Growing a range of no dig polytunnel & minimum tillage field scale vegetable crops, and fruit trees organically all year round on 7 acres
• Growing team coordination (or management), including line management/support, recruitment and mentoring of trainees and/or other growing team staff
• Crop planning and forecasting of income from the growing operation
• Coordinating internal and external sales of produce
• Leading on all aspects of sowing and raising transplants, weeding, ground preparation, harvest, packing & storage of produce
• Maintenance of the growing and site infrastructure
• Delivery and ongoing development of our in depth 20 month paid traineeship program, and other training and learning opportunities
• Facilitation of crop production volunteering sessions, including leading groups of volunteers to carry out crop production tasks
• Communicating & working in partnership with other growers, wider staff team and our committee members
• Working at our annual large public facing events at the farm, e.g. delivering farm tours, workshops and engaging with the public
• Continual development of our farming practices in line with organic principles and emerging best practice for soil health
• Taking a full and active role in the development & evolution of Sutton Community Farm
• Saturday work to run volunteer days, approximately once every 2 months
• Ensure compliance with organic certification standards and other relevant regulations, including record-keeping and managing annual inspection

A note on our dynamic roles: Sutton Community Farm’s roles are defined to a certain extent, and our staff understand their key responsibilities and aims when they start. However, the shifting priorities of the farm and our small team demand flexibility, and we don’t want to restrict people by their title or their function. We regularly review the farm’s strategy, and give all staff the opportunity to shift to roles which align their skills and interests with the needs of the farm.

Our ideal candidate has multiple seasons of experience (ideally 3 or more) managing a commercial organic veg growing operation, all year round, at scale, with field and covered crops.

Technical skills

• Tractor & machinery experience
• Infrastructure maintenance skills - polytunnels, irrigation, general site
• Mechanical repairs skills
• Good Excel skills and proficiency in tracking yields

Interpersonal skills

• Excellent communication skills
• Willingness to work with people of all ages and abilities
• Organisational skills to maintain efficient processes - to manage complicated and challenging workloads, and balance the competing priorities of production, teaching and wellbeing of staff and volunteers
• Experience managing people
• Experience leading volunteer groups
• Hard working, hands-on & reliable in all weather
• Strong interest and experience in teaching - including teaching methods which empower and hand over responsibility to our trainees
• Enthusiasm for participating in feedback and cooperative decision making processes and other non-hierarchical ways of working
• Enthusiasm and energy for continuing to develop our farming practices in line with organic principles, to care for the land, the people and the wider farm ecosystem
• Good self awareness- knowledge of how you like to work in a team, how you like to support others and be supported
• Interest in continuing to develop our culture of care in the growing team, to find the best ways to work together to stay healthy and happy in our work

Diversity matters to all of us at Sutton Community Farm. We have a working environment where we value and respect each person’s unique contribution. Diversity helps us identify where change is needed and what is required to promote equity, as well as reflect the concerns of our community.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We are committed to our Equal Opportunities Policy and we have taken steps to ensure our application process and workplace promote equality and inclusion, for example:

• Using an application form rather than a cover letter, so we can review your application anonymously and only use relevant information to shortlist candidates
• Actively supporting flexible working, part time roles and job shares
• Staff-led training and initiatives on subjects of anti-racism, equality and inclusion
• Access to interest free loans to assist with travel expenses or similar
• Developing a safer spaces agreement for our farm community

1. To apply, please complete the application form. You can preview the form questions below.
2. Please also fill in our Equity and Representation Monitoring form (this is not compulsory, and information will only be used in aggregate to monitor who we are reaching). 
3. We will aim to respond by Wednesday 14th January
4. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a tour of the farm, and to attend both a volunteering session (on Tuesday 27th or Wednesday 28th January) and an interview (on Monday 26th, Tuesday 27th or Wednesday 28th January)
5. Candidates that are invited to attend interviews will be asked to provide references.

The application form is a Google form, to make it easy for us to review applications anonymously. You will not be able to save progress halfway through. We suggest you write your answers in a separate document and copy and paste them in when you are ready to submit. The questions are as follows:

1. Please tell us about any growing positions you have held, and provide the following details. This may be just one role you have held for multiple seasons, or multiple different roles, and may include unpaid roles if relevant (this can be in bullet points as in a CV).
   1. Role title and organisation
   2. Start date and end date
   3. Your responsibilities and achievements
2. Given what you know about Sutton Community Farm, what makes you a good fit for this role?
3. Tell us about a time you have trialled an emerging agroecological method, and what did you learn?
4. What experience do you have with tractors and machinery?
5. How would you protect the experience of trainees and volunteers, alongside the demands of a busy productive growing operation?
6. If you were offered the role, when could you start?