Company description

Island Grown Initiative is a non-profit on Martha’s Vineyard that works to build a regenerative and equitable food system for our community. We operate a 42-acre farm in the center of the Island and use low till, regenerative practices. We seek a hard-working and community-oriented Gleaning and Distribution Assistant to help us share local food throughout the 2026 growing season.

Job description

Island Grown Initiative is a non-profit on Martha’s Vineyard that works to build a regenerative and equitable food system for our community. We operate a 42-acre farm in the center of the Island, and use low till, regenerative practices. We’re seeking a Gleaning and Distribution Assistant to help us share local food throughout the 2026 growing season. This position will be split between our Gleaning, CSA, and wholesale programs. General farm support will also be part of this role.

Gleaning is the act of gathering food that would otherwise not be sold. This includes harvesting surplus crops with volunteers, receiving surplus food, and harvesting food grown on IGI’s farm specifically for donation. Our Gleaning program serves local food distribution programs, public schools, and prepared meals programs. We work closely with IGI’s Food Pantry, which serves 1 in 5 year-round residents of Martha’s Vineyard. We run gleaning field trips for 700 students each year at IGI’s farm.

We offer sliding scale summer and winter CSA programs with 150 members. We also offer two additional CSA pickup locations to make CSA more accessible to members throughout the Island.

We are expanding our wholesale program to offer more options to public schools and other institutions. We are embarking on a Food Hub project where we will aggregate local and regional food from the northeast on an online ordering site. IGI will deliver local and regional food directly to our customers.

This position starts as early as October 22, 2026, and ends December 31, 2026 with potential for year-round employment. Work averages 40 hours a week over the course of the season, with the expectation that some days will be longer than others depending on the season and needs of the farm. Daily start and end times are subject to change during the hot summer months.

This position reports to the Gleaning Manager and is supervised by the Distribution Manager as needed.

Gleaning Assistant Responsibilities (60%):

• Direct volunteers during gleans at IGI and other Island farms.
• Pick up gleaned food from local farms.
• Make deliveries to food pantries, local organizations, and schools with an IGI vehicle.
• Facilitate gleaning field trips for various ages and ability levels.
• Occasionally coordinate with farmers and gleaning recipients via text and email.
• Track and record gleaning data.
• Wash and pack produce, maintain gleaning supplies, perform various farm-based tasks.
• Cover for the Gleaning Manager as needed.

Distribution Responsibilities (40%):

• Assist with packing wholesale orders and weekly and biweekly CSA shares.
• Deliver orders to restaurants, grocery stores, schools, and more.
• Pick up wholesale orders from local farms.
• Harvest and wash produce following the farm’s food safety standards.
• Maintain cooler cleanliness, clean and sanitize storage bins, perform various farm-based tasks as needed.
• Cover for the Distribution Manager as needed.

What we’re looking for:

• Experience in agriculture.
• Attention to detail, ability to remember complex instructions.
• Clear communicator over text, email, and in person.
• Willingness to learn and experiment with us.
• Ability to adapt to dynamic needs of many different programs.
• Friendly and positive attitude, happy to work with people.
• Enthusiasm about our work!
• Safe and conscientious driver, clear driving record, up to date driver’s license.
• Physically capable of sustained manual labor, including the ability to safely lift 50 pounds repeatedly.
• Ability to work in all weather conditions, including rain, wind, heat, cold, etc.
• Ability to pass CORI background check in order to work with students on field trips.

Compensation: Pay is $25-$26/hr, commensurate with experience. Returning employees are expected to take on more elevated responsibilities, which will be reflected in their pay. Farm staff members enjoy access to the food they grow.

Application deadline: October 2, 2026

Compensation

this position is: hourly, varies DOE, $25.00 - $26.00

Application instructions

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Deadline

October 02, 2026