Farm Manager

Farm Manager:

Seacoast Mushrooms is looking for the right person to join and lead our team. Seacoast Mushrooms is a farm located in Stonington, CT. As producers and purveyors of gourmet mushrooms, we take great pride in the work we do. Mushrooms are grown from a nutrient enriched wood based medium, 'fruited' in our grow rooms and harvested for wholesale and retail sales year-round. We support restaurants across the state of CT and participate in farmers markets to connect with different communities throughout the state. We are looking for someone to join our team to lead and run the farm.

Some of the responsibilities include:

1. Supervise daily farm activities, coordinate the team to ensure safety and productivity standards are met 2. Developing and adhering to the production plan 3. Mushroom substrate/medium batching (includes lifting bags weighing up to 50 lbs) 4. Inoculation and nursery/grow room activities (includes bags weighing up to 10 lbs) 5. Mushroom growing (fruit body production and hydrating) 6. Harvesting, Quality Sorting, Packaging, Post harvesting cleanup 7. Maintain production logs (quantities, incubation times) 8. Operate and maintain machinery, irrigation systems and equipment (e.g. loader, boiler) 9. Other random farm tasks (e.g. cleaning, emptying of bins, sweeping, shoveling) 10. Computer applications (e.g. excel, word, others) The responsibilities of the role include management and execution of the production activities to maintain the production schedule. You will work with production staff/farm workers to execute the production activities. You will run and/or oversee batching activities including operation of a wheel loader, running the substrate mixer and bagging activities running automated/semi-automated equipment. You will operate a high-pressure boiler and autoclave/steam sterilizer to sterilize the mushroom production medium. Following medium sterilization, you will lead operations in the production lab, inoculating mushroom substrate medium per the production schedule. Recognizing our operations are a bit unique, if you are capable of learning we can teach you how to perform these activities. You must be capable of delegating tasks, teaching the activities to be performed in those tasks and following up to ensure the tasks are completed correctly and on time. This is expected following a reasonable development plan to learn the activities you have not performed previously. You will develop and manage changes to the production schedule based on changes in product demand from the sales forecast. You will work in partnership with the Sales Manager to meet the supply needs of the business. This means you will need to ensure you have the raw materials (forecast and procurement) necessary to ensure supply. You will maintain production logs (e.g. batching, incubation, harvest). The candidate must be able to perform routine tasks include walking, bending, squatting, lifting (50 lbs min), hauling, climbing ladders, pushing and pulling heavy racks/carts and other physical practices that are common to farm work. Two hands are required to manipulate mushroom bags that weigh up to 10 lbs as well as bags for growing activities on batching days that weigh up to 50 lbs. A majority of the time is spent walking around or standing for long periods of time reaching and lifting up to 10 lbs regularly. Experience growing mushrooms is not necessary as we will teach you what you need to know. That said, we are looking for a manager who is autonomous, detail oriented, driven and capable of managing the farm team. A typical day is 8-9 hours and may consist of a number of combinations of 1 thru 10 above. The year round work will take place Monday thru Friday with occasional weekend work based on weekly harvests. Most of the production areas are climate controlled but summers can be hot and humid and winters are cold and dry and it rains too so there is definitely exposure to the elements that is a necessary part of the job. The outdoor work is limited but you will be cold, wet (mild rain and snow), exposed to the sun and high humidity.

Pay:

$27.00 - $33.00 per hour

Work Location:

In person