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.

Assistant Grower (x2 roles)

Shillingford Organics
Shillingford Organics, Exeter

Posted: 16 Sep 2024

Deadline: 31 Oct 2024

Compensation: Minimum wage

Paid Full-time Fixed term / contract

Job description

Shillingford Organics is a commercial organic vegetable farm with a community feel just outside of Exeter in Devon. We grow a range of organic vegetables on around 80 acres for our local box scheme, farmer’s markets and local wholesale. We have both field scale and protected cropping. We are a large dynamic team with 7 main growers who all manage the day-to-day by cooperative and consensus-based decision making.  

We are looking for two assistant growers to join our team in January 2025, for 4 days per week. Your role will predominantly involve lots of harvesting and weeding but will also include propagating, planting, packing, delivering and selling a wide range of fruit and vegetable crops. You will also be working at some of our farmer’s market in Exeter on Thursdays and regular Saturday markets (at least two per month) which include Topsham, Crediton and Teignmouth. 

During the day, you will be assisting all of the growers depending on the workload and time of year. Confidence working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment is essential.  

This is an ideal position for someone with some experience of organic growing who is hardworking and has a desire to learn and develop their skills further in a commercial setting.   

We would like to prioritise one of these roles for someone who has recently completed a traineeship/apprenticeship and is at the start of their career in growing.  

Person Specification:   

Essential:

• Ability to learn on the job   
• Confidence/interest working amongst a large team 
• Self-driven and committed  
• Good communication skills and the ability to work effectively both in a team and alone  
• Physical stamina for manual labour, repetitious tasks and working at the pace that commercial scale growing demands 
• Willingness to work in all weathers  
• 1 year minimum experience of horticulture, ideally organic 
• Experience or interest in working in customer service and handling money 
• Full UK driving license 

Desirable:   

• Confidence driving a van 
• Experience driving a tractor 
• Passion for working in organic horticulture at field scale 

Details:  

• This is a 4-day week role from 13th Jan 2025. 
• Fixed 1 year contract 
• Days are 8.5 hours including a half hour, unpaid lunchbreak.  
• Start time is 6am in summer and 7am in winter 
• There is no accommodation provided with this role.  
• Minimum wage plus statutory holiday pro rata 

Application information

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to wholesale@shillingfordorganics.co.uk We will invite shortlisted applicants to come and join us for a trial day. Deadline is 31st October but early applications are encouraged as we will interviews on a rolling basis and may fill the position before the deadline closes. 

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