Are you passionate about food justice, food sovereignty, and/or food access? Are you interested in working at the intersections of food justice, community care work, and sustainable agriculture? Do you have a personal or cultural connection to land stewardship, gardening, farming, and/or cooking and food sharing? Fresh Focus would love to have you on our team! No previous farming or agricultural experience necessary.
WE ARE HIRING FOR THREE SPECIFIC ROLES ON OUR TEAM. YOU MUST ADDRESS WHICH ROLE YOU ARE APPLYING FOR IN YOUR COVER LETTER OR YOUR APPLICATION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. PLEASE CONTINUE READING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE THREE ROLES.
Please read carefully! Applicant materials must address the minimum criteria for this position to be considered.
STUDENT FARM DESCRIPTION:
The UC Davis Student Farm is a place where students can learn, practice, and model an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable agriculture and food system. The Student Farm welcomes all students to build this more equitable and just farm and food system by cultivating student initiatives, leadership, experiential learning, and inclusive communities. Students can apply for jobs at different programs within the farm in addition to the Ecological Garden, including the Market Garden, Fresh Focus, the shop, and the SCOPE program.
WORKING ENVIRONMENT:
All Fresh Focus LSFs will spend the majority of their hours on site at the Student Farm. All applicants should be prepared to work in varied outdoor environments and weather, with the potential for working inside during adverse weather or smoke conditions.
EMPLOYMENT PERIOD AND HOURS:
- 1 year position with potential for renewal
- Options to start Summer Session 1 2025, Summer Session 2 2025, or Fall Quarter 2025
- 10-15 hours weekly commitment during the school year
- 10-20+ hours weekly commitment during the summer
- Most field hours must be completed during farm open hours: M-F 8am-12pm
WORK-STUDY:
- We have both Work-Study and Non-Work-Study positions
- Work-Study eligible students are strongly encouraged to apply
- To learn more about Work Study visit: https://financialaid.ucdavis.edu/work-study/employer-ucdavis/documents
PAY:
This is a Student assistant 3 position, and the pay rate is $16.75 per hour.
FRESH FOCUS PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
Fresh Focus was created by students that were frustrated by the disconnect between wasted excess produce on the Student Farm and a lack of fresh produce at the Student Pantry, motivating them to create a project to bridge both needs. Fresh Focus began as a simple food donation partnership, where students would deliver extra produce from the farm to our student pantry via bicycle. Over time, Fresh Focus has grown to a larger food justice program with 11 on-campus partners, a staff program coordinator, 3-4 student employees, college core fellows, 10+ interns, and a small delivery vehicle. Over the program's history, we've provided over 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to the UC Davis Community. Along with food donation, our program has and continues to experiment with projects to expand food sovereignty, food culture, and community care work, both on the farm and within the Davis Community.
As we look ahead to the 25/26 school year, Fresh Focus is excited to:
1. Increase our capacity for growing culturally relevant crops and seed saving
2. Expand and deepen our reciprocal relationships with on and off campus community partners
3. Develop and share community resources that reduce barriers to food access and sovereignty
4. Facilitate and coordinate more events that bring together folks across campus and yolo county engaged in food justice work
While these are general goals for the year to come, the scope and focus of projects will largely be shaped by the interests of Fresh Focus student employees and interns, as well as the needs and goals of our partner organizations. If you have ideas or visions of what a more just food system on the UCD campus and within the larger community could look like, we would love to hear from you!
POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
General Fresh Focus Lead Student Farmer responsibilities:
- All Fresh Focus LSFs will be responsible for leading interns in harvesting, packaging and distributing produce donations to campus partners on a weekly basis
Our current campus partners include:
- LGBTQIA+ center
- Native American Academic Student Success Center (NEST)
- Mobile Pantry
- Undocumented Student Center
- Fruit and Veggie Up (FVUP!)
- Graduate Student Association (GSA)
- ASUCD Pantry
- Center for African Diaspora Student Success (CADSS)
- Center for Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)
- Willow Clinic
- Aggie Eats
- Underground Scholars
2. All Fresh Focus LSFs will be responsible for mentoring and leading student interns in the field and will work together to create a welcoming, inclusive, intersectional, adaptive, and care-based environment for Fresh Focus interns.
3. All Fresh Focus LSFs will collaborate with each other, farm interns, and other farm program LSFs to incorporate food justice principles across farm operations and events.
Specific roles and responsibilities:
In addition to general LSF responsibilities, Fresh Focus is hiring for 3 specific roles on our team for the 25-26 school year:
- Community partnership lead
- Internship and community care lead
- Data and creative communications lead
You are welcome to apply for more than one of these positions, but you must tailor your resume and cover letter for the position(s) you are applying for. Each position has a unique set of responsibilities and minimum qualification requirements. General applications that do not specify which role(s) you would like to apply for will not be considered.
Please review this document carefully for detailed descriptions of each role.