2.1 Farm Labour
While you might want to do everything yourself, you will need some help! It might be from friends and family for a little while, but you when you need to hire some employees or find long-term volunteers, and here are some ideas to consider.
Areas of Farm Work:
- Field work – planting, greenhouse work, pruning, thinning, weeding, irrigation, harvesting, compost work, etc.
- Animal work – giving animals food and water, moving them to a new field, collecting eggs, cleaning pens, caring for them if sick, etc.
- Market preparation – harvesting, washing, bunching, bagging, weighing produce, etc.
- Sales or retail – farm stands, CSA, selling products at market, delivering products to restaurants, etc.
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- Friendly customer service
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- Feeding animals
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- Field work
Labour Options
Volunteers:
- WWOOF – often enthusiastic, range of skills, have to provide an experience (take them sight-seeing, meals, housing, etc)
- Farm Stay
- Young Agrarians
- People who live nearby
“Probably the best help we have had over the years is from people who volunteer, because they wanted to learn. They would come, and we would show them.” – Daniela Basile (SSOL Gardens)
Employees:
- Minimum wage is often sufficient for the first year of work
- Canada Summer Jobs program (19-30 years old, summer student program)
- Huge range of skill/experience
“It is really hard to find people to work in Kamloops.” – Daniela Basile (SSOL Gardens)
Possible interview questions for farm labourers:
- How far from the farm do you live? Do you have a reliable mode of transportation?
- What is your relevant work experience?
- Do you work well independently?
- What are your available hours? Are you able to work until the tasks are completed or is your time limited?
- For example if you are selling at the Kamloops Regional Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Tuesdays and Fridays are the big harvesting days (especially Friday for the larger Saturday market). In the Spring, harvesting and market prep might occur between 8am-2pm, but in August-October it might be 6am-9pm.
- What time off do you need this summer? Establish how much notice you would prefer before time off is requested.
- Check personal references!
“I have someone who lives on my property to help with farm tasks. Even with him, it is a lot.” – George Casimir (Farm N Stuff)