Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Trainee Grower

Blacklands Organics Ltd
Blacklands Organics, Westmill farm, Watchfield

Posted: 26 Nov 2024

Deadline: 6 Jan 2025

Compensation: £11.44, rising to £12.21 in April

Paid Traineeship Full-time Fixed term / contract

Job description

Full Time paid traineeship

Blacklands Organics is looking for a grower to join our team, starting February 2025 on a yearly contract. For the right person, this could be a long term position.

We have a 10 acre Organic certified vegetable farm in the beautiful Vale of the White Horse in south Oxfordshire, entering our 9th year of production on an established site. On the farm we grow a full range of veg on an 8 acre field, in a 1 acre market garden and in 12 polytunnels, we also raise all our own seedlings and have started saving our own seed. We sell our veg at a weekly farmers market, small box scheme and wholesale to the Oxford Colleges, we also have an honesty box shop onsite. Currently we have three full time growers, including head grower Jamie, and one part time grower. 

Day-to-day duties will include all aspects of growing, from harvesting, packing, weeding, seeding to maintenance and record keeping. An eye for detail, consistency and the ability to manage your time are vital as this is a busy commercial operation. A successful applicant would report to the head grower and the polytunnel manager but there are plenty of opportunities for responsibility.

We have chosen to offer this role as a paid traineeship this year so there are a few changes. This is aimed at someone who wants to grow veg for a living, ideally who has some growing experience already and wants to take the next step in a larger operation.

The training will consist of a 1 hour session per week where we will work through a curriculum covering all the basic areas of organic horticulture. We also have a very open culture of questions and discussion during tea break and lunch where we all learn of each other. There will be extensive on the job practical training with the aim of the trainee being able to carry out all operations on the farm by the end of the year. Tractor driving will also be taught to a minimum standard.

At Blacklands we try to be innovative and reactive, aware of the global climate challenges facing us and driving change to our local food environment for better health for soil, people and the planet. You’ll be expected to contribute with short and long term planning, ideas about how we can improve are very much welcomed and we have regular walks round the farm and meetings with the full team where these can be raised.

This is a full time position of 40 hours per week with a contract of employment including statutory sick leave, paid holiday and a 3% pension scheme. Work is primarily based on the farm but there is occasional delivery involved and one Saturday per month working on the farmers market. We do not offer accommodation but there are options locally and on site that we can help with, please be in touch for details.

Applicants must have:

• A full UK driving licence

Desirable

• At least one seasons experience on a commercial veg farm
• Tractor driving experience

Application information

Please email Jamie at office.blacklands@gmail.com for more info and with your CV and covering letter by midnight 3/1/25 at the very latest. We may fill the post before this date if we have lots of applicants so apply early!

Start date would be Febuary.

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