Market manager Jobs in Burnaby, BC

Veggie farming, Market gardening

Location : Gibsons, Sunshine Coast, BC

Housing : Apply from anywhere! Housing is available.  Also hiring : Summer Camp Jobs

We are looking for a hardworking, relentlessly positive, fit, and experienced farmer to join our team.

Overview :

We are looking for an experienced farmer to join our team as Market Garden Manager. This shouldn’t be your first rodeo, you are going to be in charge of veggies!

This position will oversee all things related to the annual vegetable production side of our farm. Although you will be the point person for annual crops, you will not feel like an island. The market garden and veggie patch is roughly 2 acres out of 10 acres in production in other ways.

Robin and Jordan are busy running the operations of the farm as a whole from the perennial crops to the animals to the programming, but Jordan is a Professional Agrologist and has extensive experience in farming, and will be an ally and available for help and consultation always. We value teamwork here and the staff are a cohesive, collaborative group of passionate individuals who enjoy working together immensely. With ample volunteer housing, wwoofers make up the bulk of summer harvesting help.

There is a big team of folks working on the farm in other areas, folks to have morning meetings with daily, share lunch hours, and form a strong community feel.

Keeping the farmstand stocked is the #1 priority of this position, we sell almost all crops farm gate and it is open 7 days / week. This means there are no markets to prepare for or attend, and harvesting can happen daily and in smaller quantities.

Responsibilities :

• Oversee and execute all aspects of intensive growing from seed to sales in the market garden.
• Creating and maintaining crop plans, sales records, and schedules of employees and volunteers.
• Maintaining the farmstand and ensuring it is stocked daily, including on your days off by co-ordinating and training the other staff and volunteers to do so.
• Maintaining the Seed House, High Tunnel, ditches, wash station and drip irrigation to a professional standard.
• Working efficiently, mindfully, and professionally.
• Ensuring no weeds go to seed and the gardens have an appearance of high professionality - clean edges, straight rows, and wood chip aisles.
• Building and maintaining field infrastructure (trellising, tunnels, mulch, row cover, etc)
• Involving volunteers and the public in a friendly way (while also not detracting too much from productive work.)
• Managing the budget in consultation with Jordan and Robin. The farm pays for all farm related expenses, (compost, amendments, tools, soil testing, packaging materials, etc).
• Daily Chicken Care shared amongst all who live on site.

Dates and hours :

Wage : This position has a salary of $200 / day. There is the option to join as an educator for overnight school programs and receive a higher wage for those days in spring and fall. This can be discussed in the interview process.

Benefits : Full health benefits are available.

Housing can be provided. We have several housing options on-site ranging from a private 2 bedroom apartment with a yard and covered parking available year-round, to a tiny home suitable only for the farming season, depending on your needs and desires. Rent will be either zero or heavily subsidized.

Ideal Candidates :

About our farm :

Gibsons farm is land devoted to ecosystems and sustainable food production. We believe in multigenerational, community based education. Our mission is to incorporate youth education into our production farm.

There is a lot going on here on the land, there are 4-6 full time educators in the spring / summer / fall. There is a summer camp which aims to expose a whole new generation to what sustainable agriculture looks and feels like. There are wool sheep, dairy goats, a laying flock, fruit and nut orchards, ponds and wild space, a magical creek, and two ponies for fun (and manure). There are several teeny tiny cabins that fill with seasonal staff and woofers. There are farm to table events on the weekends in the warm months. Schools come from all over BC for multi-day camping and learning events where we run workshops and attempt to change the understanding of a generating surrounding food systems and why they matter. We are a team of passionate outdoor educators and farmers who believe the work we do is incredibly important in the world.

The market garden is a small scale productive patch in its fifth year of intensive growing. It has a fully automated irrigation system, established beds and rows with deep compost application every year for the past 5 years, and all the tools needed to thrive. We follow organic practices and are considering pursuing certification in the coming months / years. There is 1 acre of mixed veggies that are no-till, high yield, mixed crops grown in the way recently made popular by JM Fortier. There is also 2 acres split into 3 fields for rotations of potatoes, corn and squash where we use our small tractor. We sell almost all of our produce farm-gate, as well as participating in a CSA foodbox program and providing for caterers for farm to tables events.