WORK WITH US!
Farm Hand Positions with City Beet Farm for the 2024 Growing Season
About the Farm
City Beet Farm is a small-scale urban farm located in Mount Pleasant, Riley Park, and Southlands in Vancouver. We grow vegetables and cut-flowers on 14 sites made up of front and backyards. We use mostly hand tools and ecological farming practices that improve the long-term health of the soil. We work alongside many neighbours and our relationship with the local community is very important to us. We sell our produce and flowers through our weekly CSA, pop-up market and partnerships with local community organizations. We look forward to sharing knowledge and providing a collaborative and supportive work environment.
Job Descriptions
We are hiring for two farm hand positions this season.
Both farm hands will be involved in all aspects of the farm from seeding to selling. You will work alongside us during the season with tasks such as weeding, bed prep, transplanting, seeding, harvesting, processing, market prep and other daily jobs at the farm. The positions are both four days a week, Monday through Thursday. Depending on grant funding and your preferences one or both positions may increase to five days a week, or decrease to three days a week. If only working three days per week, they will be Monday-Wednesday.
In addition to the above shared tasks, the two farm hands will have additional individual responsibilities:
- The Community Engagement Farm Hand will have additional responsibilities relating to communications and partnerships, including creating regular content for our social media (Instagram), drafting newsletter content including recipes, updating our website as needed, and delivering vegetables to our homeowners and partner organizations. Digital work may be conducted remotely from home one day per week (Thursdays or Fridays) as scheduling allows.
- The Crop Management Assistant Farm Hand will assume responsibility for seeding and propagation, ensuring we stay on schedule with crop successions. They will also help identify maintenance tasks needed around the farm and perform them as necessary.
When applying, please indicate your preferred position, and any relevant experience you have relating to the general and specific duties of the role. If you'd like to be considered for either position, please let us know.
Job Details
Positions: Community Engagement Farm Hand and Crop Management Assistant Farm Hand
Start Date: May 6th or 13th
End Date: October 31st
Hours: Four days a week (approx. 30 hours per week subject to variation).
Schedule: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, we work from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our CSA pickup and market table are on Wednesdays from 4:00-6:30, so one farm hand may work regular hours that day, while the other will work from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm to run the market table and assist with take-down. We will discuss preferences on this front during interviews.
Compensation: $21/hr (with possibility of increase depending on funding and applicant's experience)
Eligibility: This position is partially funded by wage subsidies, so the Farm Hand must be 15-30 years of age at the start of employment and must hold Canadian citizenship, Canadian permanent residency status, or Canadian refugee status.
Desired Qualifications
- One year prior farming experience or equivalent (landscaping or other physical labour, etc.) preferred.
- Interest in sustainable farming, building community and local food.
- A valid driver’s licence and experience driving with a trailer are an asset.
- Experience in customer service, especially working in a farmers market setting or something similar.
- Good work ethic with the desire to work and learn in all weather.
- Ability to complete physically demanding and repetitive tasks, including lifting up to 40 lbs.
- Ability to work cooperatively in a small team as well as independently, and can be self motivated when it comes to completing tasks.
The ideal farm hand would be reliable and dedicated with good communication skills and a sense of fun! We are a farm with many moving pieces and we are looking for someone who can learn our systems and work cohesively alongside us.
We strongly encourage people who are underrepresented in farming and related fields or face barriers to employment to apply, including new immigrants and refugees, applicants who have not completed high school or previously been employed, women, Indigenous youth, members of racialized communities, and LGBTQ2SIA+ youth. Even if you don't have all the experiences listed above but you feel you'd be a good fit for either position, we'd love to hear from you!
How to Apply
Please send your resume and a brief cover letter detailing your preferred position, your related experience, and why you're interested in the job to Liana at info@citybeetfarm.com by 11:59 pm on Wednesday April 24th, 2024 with '2024 Farm Hand Application' in the subject line. We'll conduct interviews the following week.
Thank you for your interest in City Beet Farm. We look forward to meeting you!
