Are you looking to start an internship program on your farm? Interns help by providing labor and bringing new ideas to the farm. Interns work on farms for free or a lower wage in exchange for educational opportunities.
Interns are typically young adults in college or those exploring careers after high school. Sometimes you may get an application from an adult who is undergoing a career change or has decided to buy a farm and wants some hands-on experience.
This article will give you the pro’s and con’s of having interns on the farm, what your expectations should be, where to find interns, and some legalities to think about so that you can make the right decision for your farm.
Who are Interns?
Interns are persons that want to learn a skill and want hands-on experiences. Typically, they are college students. More and more I see adults who want to get out of the rat race and get into sustainable agriculture.
Foremost interns want to have an educational experience. That’s why they are willing to work for low/no wages. Many of them have taken courses and read about sustainable agriculture.
Interns want hands-on experiences. They want to get their hands dirty and put some of their knowledge into action. This makes them great helpers because they are excited about getting the opportunity to get dirty!
Here at Fox Run, I have been doing internships for the past nine years. Before that, I worked as a high school teacher finding hands-on experiences for my students. At Fox Run EEC we offer an internship program in organic agriculture and one in wildlife conservation.
Interns are not necessarily country kids who have been raised on the farm. In fact, most are not. They are from small towns and large urban areas with a desire to be part of the sustainability movement.
Pros
Cheap labor
Share your knowledge
Learn new things
Build community connections
Cons
Can be hard to find good candidates
Insurance and legalities depending on your state
Interns need training and supervision
Provide benefits such as housing and food
Advantages of Having Interns
Probably the biggest advantage to many small farmers is the cheap labor. Farming is a job of long hours and intensive work. Due to the high costs of land and machinery, many farmers are low on cash.
Interns help fill a labor void.
Having interns can be very satisfying because it gives you someone to share your knowledge with. It’s a good feeling passing on your skills to the next generation.
In addition, you may learn something new. Interns coming out of college classes may have learned about new techniques or read interesting studies. Keep your mind open and you may pick up some tricks of the trade.
Having interns helps to build community connections. It puts you in touch with many organizations that are concerned with agriculture education such as colleges and extension offices.
Interns may come to you with some experience. For them, you may be able to put them in charge of a task or overseeing a project.
Disadvantages of Interns
I would say the biggest disadvantage of good interns is finding them. Finding candidates can be challenging and depends on many factors such as your location, any stipend, on-site housing etc. In addition, there has been a significant drop in people who want to pursue an agricultural career.
Another disadvantage is that you may need to expand your insurance plan and/or adapt to comply with state laws. I carry liability insurance but require interns to have their own health insurance.
Interns are not employees and need various tasks and educational opportunities. So, where you could send an employee into a field to weed every workday, that won’t work with an intern.
Yes, they can weed but they need other tasks as well. I typically give them several different tasks each day. In some cases, you may be working with a University that wants the intern to learn certain skills.
You can choose to just have local interns who can drive each day to your farm. However, that will significantly lower your applications. Providing housing and meals will help to make your internship more attractive.
Finding Interns
Finding interns is the key. There are many ways to do this. The farmers that get the most applications are the ones that use several outlets.
Start with Your Website
Have an intern page on your website. This is crucial because you will need a place to send interested parties to learn more.
Your webpage should give all the required details – what you are looking for, what you offer, and how you want people to apply.
You can check out my page which is quite extensive because I keep adding to it whenever I have questions.
In addition, if you need website help I do design websites for small farmers and animal rescues.
Free Ways to Find Interns
Posting on your social media. Facebook and LinkedIn are good ones to start.
Look into your local organic grower’s network or state organic group. Many of them have an intern listing.
Make up a flyer and send it to local extension offices.
Write to colleges and vocational schools with agriculture or related programs and tell them about your internship program. It’s my opinion that these students make the best interns because they are vested in their educational journey.
Chegg Internships www.interships.com offers free listings for internships.
Paid Sites where you can make a listing
ATTRA
The National Center of Agriculture Technology has an Intern Listing on their ATTRA sustainable agriculture site. The cost is $20 per year which is very reasonable considering it gets you access to many of their resources as well.
This listing is very popular and gets a lot of traffic. Read through the listings to get an idea of what other farmers offer and what jobs their interns do.
Classifieds
Indeed online job board does intern listings
Agcareers.com offers agricultural listings however many of them are from “big” ag.
WWOOF
WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and is a very large networking organization. WWOOF brings together hosts (farmers) with WWOOFers (volunteers) who want to exchange work for housing and learning.
WWOOF is free for hosts to sign up and make a farm profile. Profiles don’t list a street address or phone and are only viewable by members. Member volunteers also fill out profiles.
Last year there were 2,052 US farmers participating. The duration of the volunteer’s visit can be anywhere from one day to months. Volunteers sign on to work 4 – 6 hours a day for five days per week on average but no more than 30 hours per week. In exchange, they receive food and housing and learn new skills.
WWOOF does not charge anything to sign up as a host. They have an extensive profile page you fill out. My advice is that you do so in great detail and very honestly, that way you get responses from people who are genuinely interested in what you offer. Hosts and volunteers can search and contact each other through the WWOOF website.
I have used WWOOF twice and been rather disappointed. However, I have a farmer friend who loves it and feels it works well for them. So, it will depend on what you are looking for.
I think the people who join WWOOF are more interested in “life experiences” which is fine, but I feel they aren’t good “students” nor in my opinion good workers. Some of them are just traveling economically and wanting free places to stay while on their journey. So, they are not vested in what you are doing and can be very sloppy in their work.
Wage Laws
The laws about farm minimum wage vary from state to state. In general, you must pay minimum wage unless you offer an educational component for the person’s work. The government wants an internship to benefit the intern and provide an educational component.
This is something you will want to check with your attorney about.
Stipend
A stipend is monies paid to help offset costs. Typically used for interns it does not have to meet minimum wage. A stipend does not depend on the number of hours the intern works and is not performance-based.
For instance, you might offer a stipend of $50 per week.
Keep in mind that although your intern is receiving food and housing they may have other expenses such as car insurance and gas.
Insurance
Most farmers who sell at markets are required to have liability insurance. When you have interns you need to make sure that the insurance also covers them. Talk to your insurance agent about what policy you need.
Fields of Farmers
In 2013 Joel Salatin wrote a book called Fields of Farmers about his experiences running an apprentice program.
While the book makes some very interesting points, I myself am a bit saddened and feel his program is rather elitist and exclusive. We need to encourage young people of all races and cultures that agriculture is a viable profession.
One interesting thing Salatin tried is running an internship like a class. So that the participants paid a fee. This does make sense and is of course what we do in higher education. However, the “students” were not very cooperative and felt because they had paid, they wanted to be taught but not have to work.
Joel Salatin's book goes into great detail about his internship program.
Volunteers
A volunteer is very different from an intern. A volunteer comes to help out the farmer. Many farms may offer some fresh produce as a gift for volunteer help.
A volunteer may need training to do a task, but the goal is not for them to receive an educational experience. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs often use volunteers in exchange for a reduced cost of their share. These are typically called work shares.
Sometimes a farm may ask for volunteer help to complete a big task such as fencing.
Non-profits often use volunteers on a regular basis to do jobs big and small. Volunteers donate their time and skills.
The Costs of Free Labor
You will have expenses related to interns and those need to be considered. Like anyone else on the farm they will use resources.
Housing
Housing does not need to be fancy. It can be a room in your home, a room in a work area, a camper parked in a backfield, or an offsite apartment.
You may offer a dormitory experience or a single room per person. Work with what you have.
Each intern must have their own bed and access to a bathroom. The bathroom may be modern, or it may be a composting toilet in a private room.
I have a very simple off-grid home. I have a room in the home and one in a finished barn loft. I make it clear how basically primitive the housing is compared to modern homes.
Food
Being a farmer it’s expected that much of the food will come off the farm. Interns will be quite interested in learning how to prepare farm-raised foods.
Meals can be family-style, or you can provide a cooking area for interns. A hybrid method is popular. Meals and cooking supplies need not be fancy. Basic supplies such as peanut butter and pasta are commonly made available.
Interns may come to you with a variety of eating preferences. Make it clear in your profile what you eat and what types of foods are available. State whether you can accommodate vegetarians or gluten-free diets.
Author, Ame Vanorio, is the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center and a long time organic farmer. She has been hosting interns for nine years.