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

Duration: Permanent role pending probationary period 

Hours: We would consider different options to suit the applicant including full-time  (37.5h a week) year round, or a role with seasonal variation (i.e 30h summer, 14 in winter) with a Stable Income Arrangement. In the winter we work roughly 9-5 and in the summer it can be earlier for harvests and also include occasional weekend work - watering.

Rate of Pay: ~£26,000  (pro-rata based on 37.5h) 

Location:  Barnhill Farm, Near Paisley, Scotland

About Us:

Locavore was established in 2011  with a tiny shop on the south-side of Glasgow and since then has grown and developed. We are a social enterprise which exists to build more sustainable food networks which are better for people and the environment. 

Our activities include:

• Running our two Glasgow shops in Govanhill and Partick which serve 16,000 customers a month with local, organic and zero waste foods and goods.

• Delivering local organic veg boxes to around customers from Ayr to Edinburgh with our fleet of electric vans. We currently make around 850 box deliveries per week. 

• Growing local organic vegetables on  21.5 acres at Barnhill Farm.

• Producing prepared foods in our kitchen to supply our shops with foods such as dips, bakes and food to be served within our Govanhill cafe.

• Running projects and initiatives that forward our mission of building a sustainable food system. 

Find out more:

 www.locavore.scot and locavorecic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We’re looking for another experienced grower to join our team as we enter our second season on our 21.5 acre site at Barnhill farm.  

About our farm:

Last year was our first year at Barnhill Farm and the first year of us managing our growing with a tractor based system for nearly all of our crops. We had loads of successes, some failures, and produced more vegetables than ever before while learning loads. It was a successful first year and we’re looking to build on it in 2026.

In the field we grow in plots which are a bit over an acre in size. The crop plan this year includes:

• Two plots of potatoes with a mix of varieties including early and main crop for storage. Last year we grew 22 tonnes.

• A plot of broad beans, possibly with some trials of other beans in there too. 

• A plot of chard and beetroot.

• A plot of carrots with a little bit of celery, fennel and celeriac.

• A plot of squash and courgettes.

• A plot of with a mix of alliums including spring onions, bunches onions and garlic. 

• A plot of lettuces and spinach.

• Two plots of brassicas grow lots of different kinds of kale as well as some bunching turnips, napa cabbage and 

• Two plots which are in green manures to build fertility.

We have a collection of machinery that we use to manage the field crops including a Case Case 885XL tractor and the following implements:

• Lely 3m power harrow

• Faun 2 row potato planter, a potato ridger and a root harvester.

• Stanhay Singlair 785 for direct seeding

• Checci & Magil Transplanter for planting modules 

• Garmach vegetable tine harrow for early weeding.

• An old steerage hoe, cultivator and ridger.

Besides the field plots we have spent the winter building more polytunnels and by the end of spring we’ll have around a third of an acre under cover for crops to be grown in through the summer. We plan to increase this further every year.

Key crops in the polytunnels this year are tomatoes and cucumbers, both of which we’ll grow around 500sqm of. We’ll also grow a few varieties of climbing beans and heat loving herbs like basil. Looking beyond the summer the tunnels will be used to grow a range of leafy greens and salads through the late autumn, winter and early spring 2026/27.

Alongside our polytunnels we will be creating hand scale plots of perennial vegetables this year. This will include a wide range of herbs and more unusual crops like cardoons, sorrel and jerusalem artichokes. 

This spring we’ll also be planting lots of trees to divide up our plots, creating windbreaks , supporting biodiversity and additional food crops. This includes lots of willow cuttings, native woodland species and around 80 fruit trees, mostly apples as well as some plums.

Our longer term vision is to develop our field at Barhill into a place where people can visit and learn while we continue to grow more and more of the produce we need to supply our shops and veg box scheme.

Our Markets:

Our growing is really well placed with a captive market for our produce. The vast majority will go through our veg boxes of which we deliver around 850 per week. We’ll also supply produce to our two shops in Glasgow and are looking to start selling wholesale this year.

About this role:

We’re looking for an experienced grower to join our team. You’ll join two other year round growers in the field, as well as our director (Reuben) who fits in farm work alongside other Locavore duties. In the peak harvest season the team will expand with seasonal assistants joining to help with harvests.

As a supervisor role you will contribute to all parts of the growing but also take on areas of responsibility such as leading on harvests, protected cropping or putting together wholesale orders. You will also be called on to help with veg box packing and delivery as needed.

We are producing at a larger scale than many other market gardens which means we are dealing with bigger harvests and larger tasks in general. This means it can be repetitive and you must be able to work quickly and efficiently.

About the candidate:

The ideal candidate will have experience of growing vegetables at scale on an organic farm which uses machinery or grows a significant amount of produce under cover. We know there aren’t that many people with this experience out there and we will consider applications from experienced growers willing to learn how to drive a tractor, lay irrigation and build polytunnels.

Experience sought:

• Experience of growing vegetables at scale.

• Experience organic farming systems.

• Experience of growing in polytunnels.

• Experience of using a tractor with various implements.

• Experience of maintaining and repairing machinery.

• Experience of building or maintaining polytunnels.

• Driving licence, experience of driving a large van or towing a trailer.

• Familiar with different growing systems 

• Experience of supervising a small team.

Personal attributes:

• Seeks opportunities to learn new skills and learn by doing.

• Able to be organised and make realistic plans which can be shared by a small team.

• Adaptable and willing to change the plan as circumstances require.

• An eye for efficiency, always looking for ways to make jobs more efficient and lean.

• Able to meet physical demands of such a job.

• Ability to see the bigger picture; be  pragmatic and consider alternative ways of doing things.

Application information

How to apply:

The closing date is 9am on Monday the 2nd of March.  Please email a CV and a covering letter outlining why you want to work with us and what you think you could bring to this role to recruitment@glasgowlocavore.org.  

Thanks for your interest!

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