2013 Internship Job Descriptions

All Internships (Research & UMSOF Positions)

Working hours on the student organic farm are typically 8 am (or earlier) until 3 or 4pm M-F. Weekend and evening hours can be put in but not exclusively. Weekly group intern meetings and field walks will be held so that everyone understands the goals for the week. There is a fair amount of overlap with duties between all interns. Non-market managers will help out at the farmer’s market. Everyone will help plant, weed, harvest and process crops.

Marketing Manager Position

The sales/marketing manager is responsible for the marketing activities focusing on product, pricing, promotion and placement. Duties may include but are not limited to:

*Coordinating harvesting and post-harvest processing
*Taking inventory pre- and post-market
*Coordinating the market stand
*Ability to project/determine the demands & needs of the market

*Bookkeeping - invoicing sales
*Website, facebook and email updates
*Various record-keeping

This position is typically 15-30 hours a week Mid May through September. Often Cornercopia hires two marketing managers: one for Minneapolis and one for St. Paul. Cornercopia Student Organic Farm has established markets that this position would follow up with in addition to exploring new options. Both market stands are currently on Wednesdays (11-2 in MPLS, 3-5 in St. Paul).

Volunteer Coordinator Position

Volunteers are an essential part of our labor strategy on the farm and we have lots of interest from all types of people in volunteering on the student organic farm. Recruiting and communicating with volunteers and utilizing them effectively is the motive behind this position. In past years we have organized a number of crop mob volunteer days which were highly successful (20-30 people gathering to volunteer on a weekend day for bigger projects, lunch provided). The Volunteer Coordinator would be encouraged to continue organizing crop mobs and other such events. This has typically been a 20-25 hour a week position Mid May through September.

 Duties include:

*Recruitment of volunteers
*Schedule dates & times for volunteer workers
*Assignment of tasks to volunteers as needed

Outreach Coordinator

An important component of the mission of the Student Organic Farm is reaching out to our surrounding community to develop relationships that benefit the University community and our neighbors. The intern filling this position will both work on the Student Organic Farm becoming familiar with all farm operations and perform outreach activities on the farm and potentially in the community. About half of the time will be spent in day to day farm operations, and half of the time on developing other community outreach connections. In the past Cornercopia has conducted outreach activities to a wide range of audiences everyone from elementary age school groups through middle and high school groups, incoming freshmen, and college students, to alumni and the general public. This position is typically 15-20 hours a week Mid May through September.

Gordon Parks High School Youth Worker Coordinator and Farm Intern

For the past 4 years Cornercopia and Gordon Parks High School have been working together to co-create a relationship between our two programs during Gordon Parks summer sessions. The person filling this position will work with the staff at Gordon Parks HS and Cornercopia to develop and execute learning activities at Gordon Parks HS and most importantly at Cornercopia.  During the 6 weeks of the GP summer sessions and the week before classes start, the person filling this position will spend half time working directly with GPHS staff and students.  During the time the GPHS classes are not in session the person filling this position will work at Cornercopia producing food, caring for the land, and providing training and leadership to other farm workers and volunteers.   Additionally the intern filling this position will also provide leadership to develop connections and partnerships with other community groups.

Gordon Parks High School is an alternative high school located on Giggs and University Avenues in St. Paul. Their mission is to create college-bound, career-aware students, fluent in the varied media arts and experienced in work-based learning, who can apply these skills toward change in their lives and communities.

 

To apply for any of the above listed positions:

Fill out and return Student Application Form to MISA office (413 Hayes Hall in person drop off or mail to 411 Borlaug Hall) or submit via email to tchi0003@umn.edu

Additional questions can be sent to Courtney Tchida at tchi0003@umn.edu

The chickens are coming!

by Sam Karns  

          Cornercopia Student Organic Farm is going to have chickens again this year! Sustainable farming has to include an element of farm-generated fertility, and animals are a great way to fill that need.  With chickens on the farm, revenues increase through their products, and costs go down because farmer's have a lesser demand for fertilizer! But as with all the vegetables being grown this year (many of which are started in the greenhouse waiting to be planted) a good amount of spring preparation needs to happen before animals come on the farm for the season too, and we are busy getting things ready! Old plastic has been pulled off the coops and new tarps will be going on, repairs are being made, chicks are being ordered, feeding rations are being planned, and poultry barn space has been reserved!

            This year, in partnership with MISA and UMN-Extension, we will be raising both broilers (chickens for meat) and layers (chickens for eggs).  We'll have two 100 chicken batches of broilers (100 of the conventional Cornish Cross variety, and 100 Freedom Rangers, a newer French-bred, pasture specific variety) and 20 layers.  Meat will be sold to the Campus Club restaurant, and the eggs will be sold at our St. Paul market stand. 

            We're incredibly excited to have poultry pals on the farm again, and our first batch of chicks arrived a couple of weeks ago (April 19th shown above)! Stay tuned for more updates.

Planting Update 4/25/12

By Terry Scott Nelson

The Cornercopia Farm has been moving along smoothly as the days warm up and draw closer to the average last frost date. To get a jump start on the season we’ve been planting green’s in high tunnels. Cornercopia has two high tunnels in production, one growing kale and the other growing spinach. In the confines of the high tunnels we are conducting an experiment to determine if mulched greens grow better than un-mulched greens. For each high tunnel one side is mulched and the other side is un-mulched with path runs along the middle of the structure to separate the experiments. This last week we re-mulched the two high tunnels and took temperature readings. After taking the temperature readings we found that the mulched soil was significantly warmer than the un-mulched soil by 16 degrees F. Mulched was calculated at 77 degrees F and the un-mulched was calculated at 59 degrees F.

In the last week the farm has also been sowing seed and transplanting for many species of vegetable crops. Cilantro, Summer Savory, and our third planting of Spinach were sown this week, while tomatoes were transplanted. Two weeks ago Basil, Borage, Lettuce/Salad Mix, Nasturtiums, Rutabaga, Turnips and our second planting of beets were sown. We have also been sowing seeds and growing up transplants for City Fresh, a program that connects city kids with fresh vegetables.

Whoop-de-do High Tunnels / Hoop Houses

By Ann Putnam

An “agitated public discussion or debate,” is one definition of “whoop-de-do” according Merriam Webster’s online dictionary. (Merriam Webster.) If you followed the recent approval of the Minneapolis Urban Agricultural plan you know there was a lot of “whoop-de do” about “hoop houses” or as they are sometimes called, “high tunnels.” Often the terms are used interchangeably but there is a distinction: a hoop house is made with two layers of polyethylene film and a high tunnel is made with one layer.

Growing plants in unheated structures is not new. It has been used in Europe for decades and is gaining popularity in the U. S. in northern climates.  Elliot Coleman, an organic farmer in Maine, has been experimenting with hoop houses for decades and has written extensively about using them to prolong the growing season on his Zone 4 farm (Coleman. 1992.)

Above: High tunnels should be sited near a windbreak. A building immediately to the north protects the SOF high tunnel.

Since 2002 researchers at the University of Minnesota Extension have been studying high tunnels at the North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids. They have also collected data from commercial growers using high tunnels in other parts of the state. (Nennich. 2008.) The research so far suggests several advantages to using high tunnels.

On the plus side, some crops grown in the warmer enclosed environment can reach market up to four weeks sooner than those grown in field production.  By extending crop production a number of weeks with an earlier spring start and/or later fall harvest, different cultivars with longer days to maturity can be grown. This increases yield and variety and therefore profitability.

The enclosed environment provides other advantages including making weed and pest control significantly easier. However, high tunnels do require intensive management. Temperatures must be carefully monitored so optimal conditions for plant growth are not exceeded. (Jett.) Tradeoffs will always be made in agriculture but for now it looks as if the future looks good for hoop houses and high tunnels. Whoop-de-do!

Above: On a warm day the sides of the SOF high tunnel are rolled up to allow air circulation and prevent heat build up.
 

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whoop%20de%20do

Coleman, Eliot. 1992. Four-Season Harvest. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. White River Junction, Vermont.

Jett, Lewis W. High Tunnel TemperatureManagement. State Extension Vegetables and Small Crop Specialist, West Virginia University. 

Nennich, Sr., T. T., D. Wildung, and P. Johnson. 2008. Minnesota High Tunnel Production Manual for Commercial Growers. 

White Dutch Clover at Cornercopia Student Organic Farm

By Ben Boo

            Here on the Cornercopia Student Organic Farm, we are as much about simple farm goals like high yield, minimal pest damage and efficient use of space as we are about experimentation and finding out what works best for our plot through good old fashioned trial and error.  Learning is of the upmost importance and one of the fruits of this style has been the selection of our preferred weed control/ground cover crop, clover!

            As applied in our farm, clover is planted in any space not occupied by a high tunnel or a bed and the advantages have proven numerous.  The filled space has introduced competition for weeds that would otherwise fill in the empty spaces between beds and invade the crops.  We simply mow the clover before it flowers (which in turn beheads any weeds before they flower) and we have seen a dramatic decrease in weed colonization.  The roots help maintain soil structure and prevent erosion and runoff.  The presence of a uniform ground cover simplifies the question of “where can I walk out here?!”  And perhaps most importantly, clover acts as a nitrogen fixer, which means soil that would otherwise be fallow is instead being improved with nutrients that are typically removed when growing and harvesting crops.  This is effective when implemented with a rotation of planting the following year where clover existed prior.

            The lessons learned have proven numerous, and the effectiveness of clover is but one of many!  Spending time out here is a great experience for everyone involved, if you have the time to volunteer then check it out!!