Student Internship Positions
The Cornell Small Farms Program offers full-time student positions in the summer, with additional opportunities into the academic school year. They are based on Cornell University's Ithaca campus, and are currently hiring students for the 2022-2023 academic year.
About the Cornell Small Farms Program: We envision a future where diverse and vibrant urban and rural farms build human capacity, revitalize communities, supply regional food systems, and foster ecological resilience in a changing world. We do this by supporting and developing small farms-focused research and extension programs and fostering state-wide collaborations in support of farmers. Learn more at: www.smallfarms.cornell.edu.
Hours and Pay Rate: School year positions are 10 hours per week, with start and end dates based on semester schedules. The summer positions run from mid-May to mid-August at 39 hours per week, but exact dates are flexible. Hourly rates start at $13.50+ based on experience.
Job Description: Our student positions offer an opportunity to gain experience in communications, educational programming, and applied research serving small farms in New York and the Northeast.
Responsibilities are split between hands-on, research and outreach/extension efforts and can vary depending on the unique strengths and interests of candidates. Project details and current activities can be found at: www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/.
Student work and responsibilities will fall within staff-directed projects, such as:
- Communications and outreach for small farms — Develop your writing, editing and content curation skills by supporting our program's ongoing communications efforts. This includes daily social media and news posts, production of a twice-monthly newsletter and quarterly magazine, plus other marketing materials as needed.
- Educating military veterans in agriculture — Help plan, promote and tell stories about our Farm Ops project for military veterans interested in farming and other agricultural careers.
- Soil health practices in organic vegetable production — Get hands-on research experience and learn about soil building practices with the Reduced Tillage project. Support field research trials, manage vegetable crops from planting to harvest, learn plant and soil sampling techniques, and collect and organize data to share with farmers.
- Specialty mushroom production — Be the main point person on our production research efforts by following research protocols, inoculating and managing fruiting mushrooms, harvesting, and collecting data around yields and environmental conditions.
- Workforce development and management training — Support the Futuro project with interviews, data collection, and storytelling to serve LatinX farm employees. This work can also include support of our Spanish-first resource development and translation.
Qualifications:
- Some familiarity with farming or agriculture and enthusiasm for learning more about small farms in NY
- Interest in agricultural research and ability to conduct physical work in a field setting
- Excellent organizational skills with strong attention to detail
- Demonstrated ability to work well independently and in a team
- Ability to work with and organize data in Excel for analysis
- Must be comfortable learning to use programs such as WordPress, email management platforms, Google Drive and Google Analytics
- Work-study students preferred but not required
- Fluency or proficiency in Spanish preferred but not required
How to Apply: Send a detailed resume and cover letter to Kacey Deamer at kacey.deamer@cornell.edu. Include in your cover letter whether you are eligible for work-study.
Deadline: Applications are now open for part-time positions for the 2022-2023 school year. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.
