Urban Agriculture Internship Program

Full Circle Farm is a non-profit organization located at 1055 Dunford Way in Sunnyvale, California. We are a community-based educational and production farm on an 11-acre property owned by the Santa Clara Unified School District. We operate a diverse urban agriculture operation that includes an on-site Farm Stand, a CSA Program, and an Educational Garden; in addition we conduct workshops, tours, field trips and Volunteer Events. We use sustainable agriculture methods and follow national organic standards. We have a small staff and rely primarily on community of thousands of volunteers, student interns, and corporate groups.

As an intern at Full Circle Farm you are a valued member of the organization responsible for daily management of our production farm, education garden, nursery, farm stand, and volunteers. The most important requirements are enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and dedication. The primary focus of our internship is to give you a well-rounded education as to how to run a farm.

Every few weeks, we will have you focus primarily on one aspect of the farm. Those aspects are listed below. In addition to hands-on, experiential learning, we off readings followed by discussion and some class time on various topics.  Interns are also encouraged to design and implement an individual project.

We welcome anyone with a career interest in farming, gardening, non-profit organizations, or sustainable food systems. Previous experience in these fields is preferred but not required–you will learn all you need to know in order to get the job done.

Printer-friendly Internship Information

Internship Overview

Hours Requirement: 100-hour minimum, flexible hours-per-week
Supervisor: Farm Managers
Internship Starts: Quarterly
Number of Positions: 10-15
Internship Focus Areas: Nursery/Greenhouse, Farm Sales/Marketing, Field Production Work, Community Education

Farm Production

Educational Opportunities:

Crop Management- irrigation, propagation, transplanting, disease, pest, and weed management, fertilizing, trellising, and mulching
Crop Planning, including successional planting, CSA management, and Farm Stand planning/sales, crop varieties and quantities
Tractor Training and Soil Cultivation
Soil and Fertility Management, including compost, cover crop, and crop rotation
Integrated Pest Management, including pathogens, pest management
Farm Record Keeping, including yields and financial records
Harvest and Post-Harvest Handling, including food safety and risk management

Garden and Farm Based Education

Educational Opportunities:

Opportunity to help run a sustainable garden, including aspects of composting, drip irrigation, creative use of wood chips, organic pest control, and re-using waste materials to build plant supports and garden structures. Learn to engage youth in such a way that the garden’s work gets done through an informative and fun experience
Learn management skills of a community based education farm
Experience in managing student groups

 Greenhouse

Educational Opportunities

Crop Planning Training, including seeding calculations, seasonal crop rotations, direct seeding, CSA management and succession-based planting schedule
Plant Sale Planning, including seed selection, cost-benefit analysis, sale and marketing, and record keeping
Potting Mix basics, including ratios, ingredients, and experiments with native soil, dry-mix fertilizer, compost, and coco peat
Greenhouse Management, including watering, fertilizing, pest management, temperature control, organization/cleanliness

Farm Stand

Educational Opportunities
Crop harvesting, volunteer management,  creating social media posts (facebook, wordpress),  sales and marketing, recording yields and financial statements, seeking out new value added products (honey, oils, etc), networking.