Organic Farm Seeks Assistant Farm Manager, MD

30 Year Old Organic Farm Seeks Assistant Farm Manager, Maryland What They Do at Nick’s Organic Farm: They farm about 185 certified organic acres at two locations on the Washington DC urban fringe—one in Frederick and one in Montgomery County, MD. Using modern farm equipment, they raise totally grassfed angus beef, pastured chickens and turkeys, and free range eggs. They grow and sell various types of hay and baleage, and maintain different types of pastures. They produce field corn, popcorn, and Indian corn, field soybeans, edamame, barley, and various organic seeds, such as barley, corn, and soy/edamame. This year they are getting back into vegetables with a non-profit educational vegetable garden and a for-profit market garden heavily based on high tunnel production. Some interesting things that they do include research projects in conjunction with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and our 12 year crop rotation for our cattle, hay and row crops. They use both summer and winter cover crops and plant multiple species together whenever possible. They also keep two dairy cattle for our own use so you will be able to learn about milking as well.

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As a small farm, they must add value to our products by selling most of them directly to the end user whether that is a family or another organic farm. They process our own poultry and produce organic seed for small seed companies and for other organic farms to plant. They also grind our grains into poultry feeds for our use and to sell to other organic farms.

Employment Opportunity

They are looking to hire as soon as possible so we can begin training the successful applicant in advance of the 2013 growing season, with an emphasis on livestock, crop and vegetable production. Projects on the near term horizon include: farm scale composting, “green” energy and building projects, and expanding educational activities. Work would be split between both locations, but would be primarily at the larger Frederick County location.

Specific duties include:

• operation and maintenance of tractors and equipment
• care and feeding of livestock, and maintaining fencing for rotational grazing
• planting, cultivating and harvesting of row crops and vegetables
• processing poultry and grinding feed

The desired applicant would have some of the following qualifications:

• Interest in organic/sustainable farming and local/regional food systems
• Two years of farming experience
• Experience operating farm tractors and equipment
• Experience with row crop, vegetable, hay, seed, beef or poultry production
• Mechanical ability to do simple repairs
• Related skills in any of these areas: carpentry, welding, plumbing, electrical, masonry, etc
• Relevant educational background (agricultural, environmental, life sciences, etc.)Compensation commensurate with experience and abilities. Medical benefits available and housing available at the Frederick location.

  Having your own transportation would be appreciated but is not required. If you are interested, it would be helpful if you send salary requirements and a letter of interest and/or a resume.

  Contact Jeff by e-mail at farmemployment@comcast.net

  And have a look at the website if you are interested, https://nicksorganicfarm.com/