We encourage: Black, Indigenous, people of color; queer, transgender, and nonbinary people; women; people from poor and working-class backgrounds; & people with disabilities to apply.
Agroecology Commons is a collectively-led non-profit organization based in unceded Chochenyo Ohlone Territory with a commitment to agroecological land stewardship and justice. Our purpose is to cultivate knowledge sharing, community action, and global solidarity for decolonized land stewardship, collective healing, and justice within the food movement. Agroecology Commons operates as a worker self-directed non-profit: Click the links below to learn more about our unique governance structure, and core commitments.
Employment Details
Time commitment: 32 hours per week; ability to work a flexible schedule including some evenings and weekends
Compensation and benefits: $70,000 and health benefits
Location: El Sobrante, California
Time Off: We practice a self-directed time off policy. We believe self-care and community-care go hand in hand so as long as Collective Members are able to fulfill their organizational commitments, we take the paid time off that allows us to fully care for ourselves.
Anticipated start date: November 1, 2023
Position Description
Agroecology Commons Cooperative Incubator Farm is a site for community education, land connection, and collective healing. Located in the Bay Area’s peri-urban landscape, the farm is designed to support tangible learning and provide land access for graduates of our Bay Area Farmer-to-Farmer Training Program (BAFFT).
About the Farm: We seek to embody agroecological principles and practices that create closed-looped systems by minimizing on-farm inputs, preserving, protecting, and tending our rich local native ecology, as well as enhancing biodiversity, and building community resilience that supports thriving agricultural livelihoods. The site is three acres. One acre has 40 terraced rows on a hillside which are slated to be incubator plots for participants in the cooperative incubator farm to be launched in 2024. The other two acres have infrastructure and plans for more that support the farm and community, including, a Food Sovereignty Tool Lending Library, educational space, and systems for farming ease. We actively have three colonies of bees in the apiary, hedgerows of native pollinator plants, and practice cover-cropping.
As the Cooperative Incubator Farm Manager, you will be responsible for tending the land, shared infrastructure, and providing mentorship for beginning incubator farmers in cooperation with the Land Stewardship & Food Sovereignty, and Community Education circles of Agroecology Commons. As a horizontal organization rooted in agroecological land stewardship, farmer-to-farmer education, cooperative principles, and collective liberation, we are looking for a team member who is aligned and excited to lead the ongoing development of our cooperative incubator farm.
Manage Agroecology Common's three-acre cooperative incubator farm - lead the stewardship of farm habitat native ecology, riparian area, hedgerows, etc.
- Coordinate on-site farm drop-offs, material acquisitions, and maintenance
- Participate in the farm infrastructure design process
- Organize community volunteer days on the farm
- Attend monthly land steward's meetings with neighboring farms
- Attend partner and networking meetings as needed
Offer technical assistance and mentorship to cooperative incubatee farmers, such as providing instruction and support on crop production methods and business plan development to beginning farmers to achieve their farm goals and launch their own farm businesses
- Connect beginning farmers with needed trainings and resources focused on topics like food safety, business structures, value-added production, marketing, grant writing, recordkeeping, and data management
- Support food safety protocols
- Coordination with extension service agencies
Support with educational programming centered around agroecology, food sovereignty, and farmer-to-farmer skillshares
- Project lead for Cooperative Farm Tool Lending Library - help select, purchase and maintain farm equipment, farmer tools and infrastructure
- Provide educational support for the Bay Area Farmer-to-Farmer Training Program
Collaborate with Agroecology Commons’ circles as needed - participate in core collective meetings, retreats, wellness days, and organizational events
- Support engagement on social media channels
- Provide project record keeping, evaluation support and input on grant reporting and proposals in support of the incubator farm
- Contribute to documentation and data collection for organizational impact
- Responsible for tracking finances related to the farm and coordinating with the financial resilience team
- Potential to work from home for relevant computer work
Your skills:
- Technical farming skills including crop planning, irrigation maintenance and design, pest management, soil health, fruit tree management, and crop marketing
- Minimum three, ideally five years of farm management experience
- Communication, organizing, and coordination skills: be able to work in a team, strategize, vision, and cooperate
- Demonstrates knowledge of farm business practices, marketing, recordkeeping, and data collection
- Ability to maintain and use equipment safely and effectively
- Ability to do physical labor and work outside in varying weather conditions
- Experience in adult education and teaching to diverse learning styles
- Minimum two years of experience, ideally three providing instruction/mentorship in the areas of crop production, marketing, and business planning
- Experience with food safety compliance and training
Qualifications:
- Cooperatively-minded, self-directed, learning-oriented
- Has an intersectional analysis of the food system, race, gender, economic and environmental justice
- Aligned with restorative justice, embodiment practices, and prioritizing organizational wellness culture and equity policies
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Experience and/or passion in agroecology and food sovereignty
- Experience with online communications
- Proficiency with cloud-based apps like Google Drive
- Capacity to integrate and manage various projects
- Experience and/or willingness to practice loving accountability and restorative practices for generative con
- Access to reliable transportation
- Ability to manage community works days on the farm
Preferred Qualifications:
- Background in agroecological land stewardship
- Bilingual (English, Spanish, and/or other)
- Experience in cooperative governance and horizontal organizing
- Experience with movement work and community/grassroots organizing
- Experience with popular education and facilitation
- Prior farm incubator management experience
Please send the following to collective@agroecologycommons.org with the subject line “Cooperative Incubator Farm Manager Position-[YOUR NAME] by October 9th, 2023:
- Cover letter
- Résumé
- Contact information for three professional references
In your cover letter, we invite you to share:
- In which ways are you actively committed to food sovereignty, agroecology, and justice?
- What excites you most about working with Agroecology Commons?
- Agroecology Commons’ organizing structure is based on cooperation. What does cooperation mean to you?
- How do your skills, experience, and interests align with this position, especially in regards to land stewardship and mentorship?
- What has been a recent meal that surprised or delighted you?