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

Dairy Processing Lead

North Aston Farms
North Aston, Oxfordshire

Posted: 11 Feb 2026

Deadline: 27 Mar 2026

Compensation: £14-£16 an hour depending on experience

Paid Part-time Permanent

Job description

About Us:

North Aston Farms is a beautiful 900 acre certified Organic farm with a strong commitment to sustainability and conservation. We produce beef, dairy and arable crops and provide a home for our partner business North Aston Organics vegetable box scheme.

Nestled within the wider farm is the micro-dairy, where our lovely little herd of cows are milked twice a day. We pasteurise and bottle the milk on site twice-weekly for delivery on a local milk round. We also make several hundred yoghurts and kefirs each week. When the milk supply is plentiful, we turn it into batches of our popular artisan gelato ice cream, made to recipes developed in-house. All our dairy products are packaged in reusable glass jars and bottles to reduce waste.

Job Summary:

This varied role keeps you on your feet and physically active while also offering opportunities to develop technical skills and learn how to create detailed HACCP product reports.

As part of the small dairy team, you will work alone or with an assistant to oversee the day-to-day operations of the production line, ensuring efficient, safe, and high-quality processing of  pasteurised milk, yoghurt, kefir and ice cream. Please note that this role requires regular lifting of heavy crates and containers to 20kg.

You will liaise with senior dairy staff, monitor equipment, ensure food safety standards are met, and troubleshoot technical issues to maintain smooth processing operations.

You may also like to attend farmer’s markets to meet some of the happy customers who enjoy our products and get to know other local producers.

Employment Type:

Part-time 20 hours per week Mon 9-2, Tue/Wed/Thur 9-1, Fri 9-12  plus optional overtime including farmer’s markets.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supervise and coordinate the daily activities of the dairy processing room and oversee assistants on safety procedures and processing techniques.
• Operate the dairy equipment including the pasteurisers, cream separator, bottle washer and filling machine, reporting or solving technical problems as they arise. (We will train you in the use of our machines.)
• Implement and monitor food safety, sanitation, and hygiene protocols in accordance with HACCP and regulatory standards and maintain accurate records of production output.
• Work with us to create and maintain up-to-date HACCP documentation.

Qualifications:

• Education to A level or equivalent.
• A driver’s license and your own transport, due to the isolated location of the dairy buildings.
• Fitness to be on your feet for up to five hours, bending, lifting and carrying up to 20kg.
• An interest in machines and how they work.
• We will support you to undertake HACCP training to Level 3 if you do not already have it.

Place of Work:

All of your work will be on site at Manor Farm, North Aston, but there is a small amount of flexibility around hours within the limits of the working rhythms of the farm.

Benefits:

Dairy staff can take home milk, yoghurt and kefir up to three items a week free of charge and get a 30% discount on ice cream and meat

Application information

Please submit your CV and a covering letter to farmoffice@northastonfarms.co.uk

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