Head Grower

Full time**About Natoora**
We are a fast-growing company with a clear mission: to revolutionise the food system.
With hubs in London, Paris, Milan, Barcelona, New York and Los Angeles, we’re creating access to consciously-produced and grown food at a scale unparalleled by anyone else in the industry. Since 2004, we have been building a unique supply chain that connects chefs and home cooks alike to an ever-growing community of independent growers, farmers and producers.
In 2020, we launched **Earthworks** a farming model designed to urgently restore the health of our soils at a scale and pace that will have a palpable impact on our planet. Our experiences with some of the world’s most innovative and dedicated growers put us in a unique position - one that could fundamentally shape the supply chain at both ends. By actively farming, we aim to put over a decade of knowledge into practice to challenge the aggressive industrial practices which are degrading our soils at an alarming rate.
From the way food is grown, reared and produced to how it gets into kitchens, we’re breaking down barriers built up by the industrial system and sparking a grassroots movement for a better future of food. This is your chance to be a part of it.
**About Earthworks**
Earthworks is at the heart of the farming project and forms the wider discussion around farming, the environment, and ecosystems. The farm is a place of active, practical, and real
- world learning, as we strive to improve our understanding of how farms can be viable while creating healthy environments.
As head grower, Earthworks will be an integral part of the growing ethos at the farm. The farm will serve as a place of education and learning, and over time we hope to share this knowledge with a wide range of peoples, through events, tours, and educational sessions. You will be involved in this program and should have a passion to be a part of the discussion around how we can improve our agricultural systems.
**About the Farm**
Located in Surrey, near Hazelmere and within direct reach of our south London hub, our new 5-acre farm will be a horticulture project that supplies our community of chefs and home cooks with fresh produce grown with flavour and nutrition in mind.
At its core, this farm is our active learning model - one that demonstrates that growing good food sustainably is both a financially viable and scalable alternative to intensive farming. Each decision will be informed by nature, and will be in line with maintaining healthy environments, ecosystems, and soils. Through integration of diverse cover crops, minimum tillage, living roots and perennials, we aim to reinforce the health of the soil and ecosystem, boosting biodiversity and climate resilience through progressive farming.
The growing plan will be centred on creating access to a nutritionally dense, flavoursome spectrum of produce produced at a scale that is both economically and humanly viable. With over fifteen years of sourcing for chefs, we will be cultivating sought after crops - leafy greens, herbs, squashes - as well as experimenting with new seeds and making our own selections.
Our aim is to create a Natoora farming model that will live out our mission in a way that is replicable, profitable and genuine - one that can succeed long term and become an educational centre for the wider community.
**About you**
- At least two years’ experience in organic or a similar growing methodology on a market-garden style farm
- A demonstrated commitment to environmentally and ecologically sound management of the ecosystem and soil
- Experience with ground preparation, propagation, holistic pest and disease management, harvest, post-harvest care, irrigation systems, crop management
- Experience and ability to drive a range of agricultural vehicles, as well as a basic understanding of their maintenance
- Confident in their ability to lead groups of people within a diverse team - particularly with volunteers and trainees
- Ability to organise and manage multiple projects concurrently
- Flexible and adaptive approach, as the farm will be growing and changing as it becomes established, willing to try new approaches and ideas

**Youy Responsibilities**
- Helping the farm manager with the overall layout, design, and long-term vision of the farm
- Planning and execution of a seasonal crop calendar with the farm manager
- Growing, harvesting and quality control
- Maintaining records of crop activities and observations, from disease to nutrient deficiencies and pest problems - and coming up with practical solutions to address any issues
- General maintenance of agricultural tools/machinery and irrigation systems
- Directing and managing other growers and volunteers when needed
- Daily tasks: sowing, planting, transplanting, watering, harvesting, preparing the soil, weeding, packing

**Location**
- Near Hazelmere, Surrey
- Note, no accommodation can be provided on site, at this moment but possibly in the f