New Entry Internship – Soil Health Demonstrations and Farmer-to-Farmer Learning Communities

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (www.nesfp.org) is seeking a summer internship position to support development of a project titled: Training Underserved Specialty Crop Producers to Mitigate Production Risk through Farmland Assessment and Soil Health Practices

Project Summary: Beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers face increasing crop production risks due to climate change. Educational programs will train producers on soil health, water conservation, and agroecology principles to mitigate production risks and support producers to address legal risks through assessing available farmland and securing long-term leases or farmland purchase. Through 1-1 technical assistance, farmland advising, field demonstrations, web-based presentations, learning networks, and farm tours, we will conduct two half-day soil health workshops; two webinars on water conservation, soil health, and agroecology/regenerative agriculture principles; two farm tours showcasing conservation production practices; four presentations on farmland search and leasing tools; two farmland mixers; and update a farmland resource guide. Risk management curriculum will be incorporated into New Entry’s business planning and crop production courses.

Farmers will gain knowledge/understanding of soil quality indicators; create conservation and soil health plans; improve knowledge of farmland assessment and lease tools; improve record keeping; and implement risk mitigating crop production practices. Producers will attend workshops, webinars, classes/mixers, tours, and individual farmland advising sessions with Land For Good. Additional individuals will access online resources

Interns Responsibilities:

· Support coordination with the project team to review agroecology and soil health educational materials and develop curricular resources to integrate into New Entry Crop Production and Business Planning Courses.

· Develop schedules with partners for Spring / Summer / Fall 2021 workshop schedules.

· Support organizing of New Entry incubator farmer planning meetings to provide educational materials, determine soil health and agroecological priorities, and set producer goals for 2021 season.

· Outreach to broader farmer groups opportunity to participate in a soil health learning community.

· Support Farm Manager to prepare demonstration fields and video document tillage practices, cover cropping/frost seeding, compost spreading, nutrient management, or other practices to incorporate into soil health trainings.

· Work with videographer to coordinate video shoots, farmer interviews, and develop and produce 3 soil health videos featuring socially disadvantaged/BIPOC farmers speaking to soil health practices.

· Conduct soil testing with 15 producers to establish baseline soil nutrients and organic matter results.

· Develop and orient producers to record-keeping templates to track soil health management practices, document yields, and production records (using AgSquared).

· Organize a spring ½-day field training involving NRCS/MDAR at Moraine Farm to demonstrate soil health quality indicator assessments, conservation, and agroecological practices.

· Conduct soil quality assessment workshop with 15 incubator farmers to establish baseline soil quality measures and support their individual farm crop production goals and risk mitigation practices.

· Support education staff to incorporate soil health / agroecology curriculum and farmland access curriculum into annual Crop Production Course workshops.

· Work 1:1 with incubator farmers to continue to implement and monitor individual soil health and agroecology practices, identify farmland supports and resources needed, address challenges, and document outcomes.

· Plan for and prepare to support quarterly soil health learning community meetings to share best practices and lessons learned among participants.

· Support planning and organizing of a July/August “Open Farm Tour / Field Day” to demonstrate soil health practices, discuss soil health quality measurements, and showcase various farmer’s agroecology practices to attendees.

· Support planning for a farmland “mixer” bringing together farmland owners and farm seekers.

· Conduct end-of-season soil quality assessment workshop with 15 incubator farmers to establish soil quality measures and any changes/observations for following year.

· Work with Land For Good staff to update New Entry Plain Language Guide to Finding, Assessing, Leasing Farmland or other resource updates as warranted by advisees. Post to website and disseminate broadly.

· Prepare content and workplan for two webinars covering agroecological principles, water conservation, and soil health practices. Set dates and secure speakers for webinars.

Desired Qualifications:

· Strong organizational skills and acute attention to detail;

· Effective oral, written and interpersonal communication skills;

· Comfortable working independently as well as with a team;

· Videography, interviewing, and photo documentation skills desired;

· Knowledge of farming systems, soil health and biology, and ecological production practices desired;

· Comfortable working in farm/field conditions under various weather conditions;

· Experience with outreach, social media, e-newsletters and marketing preferred;

· Experience developing curriculum, organizing meetings, and facilitating discussion sessions among diverse learners;

· Demonstrated interest in engaging in issues of equity, inclusion and dismantling racism, particularly in regards to food systems;

· Experience with standard computer software (MS Office, Social Media, Salesforce CRM, website content development, graphic design, Excel database)

Hours and Compensation:

This internship is available as an unpaid (for credit) or either a stipended or hourly paid position; hours are negotiable. A full-time summer commitment of up to 40 hours/week, May through August is desired.

To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume with background and experience to: kevin.cody@tufts.edu.

Deadline to apply: April 1, 2021