Company description

Livingston Farm, in the beautiful Catskills hamlet of Livingston Manor, NY is a 117 acre mountainside former dairy farm which includes 20 acres of protected farmland for orchards, grazing and vegetable production with a commitment to regenerative agriculture practices. The goal of Livingston Farm is to bring the farm back into production and invite the public to experience the property and farming activities. In addition to the farm, Livingston Farm will consist of 50 guest rooms and a farm-to-table restaurant operated by Sagra, along with 15 homes.

Job description

About Livingston Farm

The agricultural program consists of the following elements:

• 3,000 square feet of greenhouses and 1.5 acres of land leased to the hot sauce company Heatonist for local hot sauce production.
• 11 acres of agroforestry, designed by Propagate Ventures, including poplar, chestnut, native shrubs, food forests.
• 7+ additional acres for various agricultural opportunities, from a market garden to silvopasture to U-pick blueberries and an apiary.
• The farm features an original 1800’s barn that will be renovated for equipment storage, wash and pack, and co-packing of value-added farm products.

Role & Responsibilities

We are looking for a Farm Director who is excited about overseeing a diversified farm within a guest-facing, educationally-oriented environment. In addition to serving in a leadership role, this also presents the opportunity to manage your own farming business on site with support and resources from the team.

• Farm Master Planning: Work with the architects and various farm enterprises on site (Propagate Ventures, Heatonist, etc) to create a farm master plan, including infrastructure requirements, equipment selection, a crop rotation plan and more.
• Farm Management & Coordination: Directly design and manage key parts of the farming operation, including an on-site market garden. In addition, you will coordinate between the other agricultural operators on site (Heatonist, Propagate Ventures, etc), ensuring they all work in sync and have access to what they need.
• Monitoring: Monitor and track key information on the health of the land, from biodiversity to soil carbon.
• Training: Develop and manage farmer training activities including apprentice farmers, WWOOF volunteers and incubator participants
• Educational Programming: Work with the hospitality team on site (Sagra) to facilitate and plan educational programming for daily visitors to the property. This may include farm tours, speaker events, hands-on activities, culinary experiences with the chef, and more.
• Culinary Coordination: Coordinate and oversee the distribution of farm produce to the restaurant and farmstand.
• Community Building: Identify opportunities to support our community through the farm. This may include educational opportunities for local schools, food donation opportunities with local non-profits, or opportunities to welcome in volunteers.

Preferred Skills & Knowledge

• 5+ years of farming experience, ideally in a diversified environment
• Leadership and teaching experience in a farm setting strongly preferred
• Excellent working knowledge of soil health practices and sustainable farming practices (organic, regenerative, permaculture, etc)
• Excellent administrative, communication, and organizational skills
• Proficiency with software tools, including Microsoft Word, Excel & G Suite

Compensation

• This is a salaried full-time, year-round position that offers benefits. Compensation will be based on experience.
• On-site housing will be available.

Bonus and incentive opportunities including equity ownership

Compensation

this position is: salaried, varies DOE, $70,000.00 - $80,000.00

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline