Farm Director - The People’s Farm: Student for Sustainable Agriculture

Department Overview:

The People’s Farm for Sustainable Agriculture strives to educate the UW community about the relationship between people, land, and food. Through our garden workshops, educational events, and outreach programming, we aim to bring critical awareness about food systems, land use, and sustainability issues at UW.

Anticipated Start Date:

February 2025

Anticipated End Date (If Applicable):

One-year minimum commitment including the summer

Remote Work Eligibility Detail:

Partially Remote

 

Anticipated Hours Per Week:

Minimum: 12 Maximum: 25 (summer)

Schedule:

Flexible

Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum:

$15.00

Number of Positions:

1

Qualifications:

Must be enrolled as a student at UW-Madison.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Discuss with outgoing board member(s), and try to be as accessible as possible.
No prior experience is necessary.
Strong applicants have previous farm experience, are majoring in a related field, or have knowledge of organic agriculture.

Position Summary/Job Duties:

Farm Duties-
Planning plantings, layout, and design for the Eagle Heights plots for the coming season, taking into consideration accessibility, aesthetic, season extension, yield, variety, soil health, student preferences, crop rotation, etc.
Ordering seeds (ideally in November-December), and purchasing starts, and greenhouse materials in collaboration with the Urban Agriculture Directors.
Starting and caring for (watering) Greenhouse starts in collaboration with Urban Agriculture Directors.
Developing and following a schedule of Farm Work hours during the growing season that are accessible to the UW Community, in collaboration with the Farmhands.
Maintaining an inventory of farm tools and equipment, keeping track of what needs to be replaced and what new items would help us better serve our mission.
Maintaining the Eagle Heights compost pile, in collaboration with Urban Agriculture Directors and possibly the Greenhouse Learning Community.
General farm maintenance and production duties during the growing season.
Direct and lead groups of workers (e.g. summer interns, work-day groups).
Transporting produce from the Farm to East Campus Mall during the harvest season for Harvest Handouts.
Additionally to the Open Seat Food Pantry and the Food Shed fridges
Being a leader during Handouts; being friendly and knowledgeable about the variety of produce we are offering.
Keep records of maps and timing of planting, rotations, areas where disease occurred and nutrient deficiencies were identified, etc., to the best of your ability
Perform soil sampling every two years (Last Sampled 2020).
Strive to innovate in our space and set an example as a land steward.
Manage the Farm Committee during the school year.

Intra-board Duties-
Work with the Finance Director to purchase and replace new farm tools and equipment.
Work with Outreach Director to provide accurate, farm and garden specific language for materials.
Support Programming Director and Education Director on workshops, classes and programming involved with the summer internship and off-season programming, by providing information and/or leading workshops.

Ambassador/Communications Duties-
Maintain relationships with Greenhouse faculty connection
Maintain a communicative relationship with the UW staff member maintaining the Greenhouse Learning Community plots neighboring ours (Currently Tom Bryan)
Attend monthly Eagle Heights Garden Oversight Committee (GOC) meetings at the Eagle Heights Community Center during the growing season.
Maintain a positive and communicative relationship with workers in the Agriculture Research plots neighboring ours.
Maintain a positive and communicative relationship with the board of CIAS (the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems).
Seeking out and learning from a beekeeping mentor.
Coordinate (reach out and respond to) interested groups and organize times and dates for Group Work Days and Tours at our Eagle Heights plots.

Physical Demands:

Must be comfortable spending a lot of time outside in various weather conditions doing manual labor.

Institutional Statements:

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu

Accommodation Statement:

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website:https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/

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