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.

Job description

About Us

The North East Cotswolds Farmer Cluster (NECFC) is one of the UK’s largest and most influential landscape scale facilitated networks of farmers, land managers, and community partners. We are working together to accelerate the transition to a financially and environmentally sustainable farming and food system, fostering collaboration, innovation, and knowledge exchange. 

We are a Community Interest Company, with Directors and a Steering Group, and a growing team. Our current objectives are to:

1. Improve the health of our soils.
2. Map, create, enhance and link priority habitats.
3. ​Support entrepreneurial thinking and the growth of a local food economy.
4. ​Make the most of future policy and access private investment and public funding opportunities. 
5. ​Evaluate progress and landscape/farm level outcomes and outputs.
6. ​Foster community engagement and outreach.

Our primary focus is the delivery of a range of projects and events that support our 150 members across 45,000 hectares of the North East Cotswolds. Currently, we are delivering several complementary projects, including: Fostering Collaboration: Promoting Local Food and Brokering Goods & Services

Our ‘Fostering Collaboration: Promoting Local Food and Brokering Goods & Services’ project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and runs until 1st April 2026.

We are taking practical steps to re-invigorate the local farming and food system and build more connected markets, and enhanced knowledge and skills, in our area. Specifically we are:

• Building and promoting an online directory that showcases and promotes locally produced food, and the sharing of services, skills, equipment and opportunities. 
• Delivering a small number of high impact supply chain networking events bringing producers, buyers and consumers together.

We are also working to save/build our local abattoir and develop the venison supply chain. 

Evenlode Landscape Recovery

The Evenlode Landscape Recovery project is a long-term, 20-year vision for farmer-led landscape restoration that unites productive agriculture with nature-focused action.  After two years of development, implementation begins in 2026. 

We will restore streams and rivers, protect threatened native species, improve natural habitats and adapt to climate change while continuing to productively farm and create new revenue streams for farmers. 

Working together, the plan is to create and restore over 3,500 hectares of interconnected habitat throughout the river valleys.

We will showcase the power of farmers and landowners working together innovatively, supported by a strong network of expert partners, funded by a blend of public and private finance. 

The Role:

We are seeking a personable, proactive and creative marketing and communications professional, who can work across multiple parallel projects and quickly forge links and relationships between initiatives, people and places. 

Duration:

November 2025 – April 2026

40 days in total – 2 to 3 days per week (flexible working)

Please find the full description here

In summary, you will help:

• Populate and promote our online directory of products, services and opportunities. 
• Engage and grow our community using the range of digital communication channels including newsletter, social media and website.
• Find and tell great farming and food stories working with our farmers, producers and stakeholders. 
• Promote our events and projects. 
• Help refine our brand, laying the foundations for a full branding strategy. 
• Build and link our network. 

We’re initially looking for 2 to 3 days/week of freelance expertise between November 2025 and April 2026 (up to 40 days). 

It is likely that this role will grow in the future – subject to funding

Key Responsibilities:

Marketing

• Help with development and roll out of the NECFC directory – collecting and inputting information. 
• Promote the NECFC directory and priority products, services and opportunities. 
• Propose ways of growing the NECFC directory, taking it to the next level.
• Design marketing materials for our events. 

Digital Communication 

• Compile and disseminate our monthly newsletter (via Wix)
• Manage and develop our social media presence across our main platforms (Instagram & LinkedIn) creating approx. 2 posts per week per channel (re-using content across platforms).
• Support the launch of a Facebook presence. 
• Develop the look and feel of our social media output, helping to shape our brand identity. 
• Track and monitor NECFC digital activity across communication channels so we can see what works and what doesn’t as we build our digital community.
• Undertake Wix website updates and improvements.

Content and Storytelling

• Work with our farmers, producers and stakeholders to unearth great farming and food stories, developing a mix of engaging content and visuals (photos and video) for our communication channels. 

Collaboration

• Work with the team to prioritise communication output across channels and themes (cluster news, events, stories, offers, the directory, knowledge sharing, partner updates etc)
• Support the team with stakeholder communication and outreach, building and linking our network. 

Skills and Experience

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate that they have:

• A passion for the environment, food and farming. 
• The confidence to speak and nurture a wide range of stakeholders across the food and farming community.
• A knack for storytelling, presenting information in a clear and engaging way
• Success in marketing of products and services. 
• Experience in creating quality visual content (video, reels, and imagery) for social platforms (Instagram, LinkedIN, and Facebook). 
• Experience using digital tools such as Wix websites (coding experience is a plus but not essential), Google Suite (docs, sheets, and slides), Canva and basic digital communication tools.
• Skills to create and compile engaging written content for blogs, newsletters, press releases and articles.
• Good administrative and organisational skills with attention to detail. 
• The ability to assist with the planning and promotion of events.
• A collaborative and approachable working style
• A proactive and flexible approach, and can work independently

Working Arrangements

The role will require you to be a remote worker, with  (approx.) fortnightly meetings in a North East Cotswolds location (expenses not paid), with other occasional onsite meetings and visits (expenses paid). 

Occasional evening/weekend work for events may also be required.

As a freelancer you will be self-employed (invoicing us each month) and responsible for your own tax returns and internal business costs. 

The contract will include a two week notice period (both parties).

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equal Opportunities & Inclusion (DEI)

NECFC is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable organisation that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. 

We particularly welcome applicants who are:

• People of colour
• Disabled people
• LGBTQIA+ individuals (including trans and nonbinary people)
• People from working-class or migrant backgrounds

We strive for fair, transparent recruitment and will make reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Everyone within NECFC is accountable for making sure people feel respected and included. We all have a responsibility to embrace and support diversity/equal opportunities and inclusion and we will continue to challenge behaviour that prevents us from achieving this.

We will not tolerate discrimination and our aim is to ensure that all employees, contractors, suppliers, funders and work partners are treated equally regardless of their gender, civil status, family status, race, age, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or disability.

GDPR Disclaimer

NECFC will process any data provided in response to this open role for recruitment purposes only. We will hold personal data on candidates in our applicant tracking system which is fully compliant with current GDPR legislation until our open role is filled. We cannot state the exact time period for this because it varies role to role. The period is over when a candidate accepts our job offer and starts in the new role. When that period is over we will delete your data. You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle your data with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or you can contact us directly if you have any concerns you would like to discuss.

Thank you for your interest in the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster!

Application information

To express your interest, please send:

• Your CV
• A cover letter (max 2 page) outlining your relevant experience with examples of content (written and visual) that you have produced.
• Confirmation of availability – starting in November / December 2025
• Two work references (these will only be contacted upon appointment)

Please note: 

• We can only consider candidates who are eligible to work in the UK.
• We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and will support applicants who require adjustments to the recruitment process. Please get in touch should you require additional support.
• You should receive an acknowledgment of your application - if you do not, please contact Caroline Greenwood contact@cotswoldfarmers.org. 

Send your application to: contact@cotswoldfarmers.org

Deadline to apply: Open until filled

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