Assistant Grower at Sandy Lane Farm, Oxfordshire

Job Title:

Assistant Grower

Location:

Sandy Lane Farm, Sandy Lane, Tiddington OX9 2LA

Start date:

Beginning April 2026

Term:
Full time, 1yr Fixed term with opportunity to extend.

Salary/rate: £26.5k

Requirements:
On a rota basis, few hours on the weekend once a month in the summer season;
March – September. Time off in lieu in exchange. Assisting with on farm open days and events offered for paid overtime but not required.

Holiday entitlement: 28 days (which includes bank holidays) pro rata.

Benefits:
Weekly organic veg box & 10% staff discount in the farm shop.

Sandy lane farm is a 100-acre certified organic family run business. Our main focus is on growing and selling organic vegetables but we also have a small flock of sheep and pigs for meat and laying hens. We sell our veg through our thriving veg box scheme, an onsite shop, a market in Oxford every other week and some wholesale into Oxford colleges through the Oxfarmto Fork scheme.

We have an ethos of good communication, team work, efficiency and mucking in. We like to look at how we work from minor processes to overall systems to see how we can improve our work as well as celebrating the successes we have achieved as a team. Building a sustainable business, supporting our community and the land on which we grow.

Also visit our website at

This role is part of the growing team and will be to assist other members of the growing team in whatever activities are required throughout the week. The Growing team consists of 5 x full time and 1 x 2 days a week workers. You will report to the Head Grower Market Garden.

The week has a regular routine with variety throughout the year as required.

• Monday – Market Garden Harvest/jobs (spring/summer), Field Harvest/Field jobs (autumn/winter)
• Tuesday – Market Garden Harvest/jobs and bagging for boxes
• Wednesday – Market Garden Harvest and Packing boxes.
• Thursday & Friday – Market Garden jobs primarily, Field jobs at some points of the year. Routine harvests in Market Garden when required. Harvest for Market every other Friday as required.

• Harvesting in the Field and Market Garden as required.
• Assisting Head Grower Market Garden with all aspects of growing – propagation, planting, weeding, maintenance etc. in the Market Garden.
• Assisting Head Grower Field Scale with jobs in the Field – planting, weeding, net moving etc.
• Assist with bagging and Box packing as required on Tuesday and Wednesday, under instruction from Veg box manager.
• Assist with bagging for Shop and Market on Wednesday – Friday as required.

• 1 season growing experience from which candidate will have a general understanding of propagation, planting, weeding, harvesting and all basic market garden skills. This will be a basis on which to continue your learning and skills through instruction and seeking advice from the rest of the growing team.
• A genuine interest in organic growing principles, our farm, sustainability & the local food movement.
• A desire to do a job well. Whether that means caring about quality, speed, efficiency, the farm environment or teamwork.
• Good communication & Team working skills
• Happy to get stuck in and be flexible
• A positive, solution focused, can-do attitude
• Ability to work outside in all weathers all year round
• Willingness and ability to use Google sheets in line with our box packing software, Whatsapp and Trello (task management app).