“Agroecology in Action” Internship with the Gill Tract Community Farm
Tim Bowles, Professor
Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
Are you longing to engage deeper in food sovereignty and agroecology? Do you long to connect sustainable farming practices to on-the-ground research centered around agroecology, food access, and social movements? This year-long internship with the Gill Tract Community Farm will offer training in agroecological farming methods, engagement with community-based participatory research, and leadership opportunities at this vibrant community farm.
The Gill Tract Community Farm is conducting three primary research projects: 1) community compost distribution and soil health, 2) monarch butterfly habitat restoration and community science, and 3) community food access and distribution of culturally-relevant foods. Applicants are encouraged to express if they have interest in multiple research projects, but can only be awarded one. Full research project descriptions can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19il_Qc1i2_-O2WOy4ZCTux2uAbGpnwZta-SxV-XRS_g/edit#heading=h.v403ut2hso88
Please indicate which specific project you would be interested in, and why, in your application.
The farm encourages exploration of these research topics through a wide range of methods: interviews, focus groups, ecosystem sciences, media and performance art, social praxis, movement building, case studies, social engagement, and more. The Gill Tract farmers are committed to creating a community of belonging and ending oppression.
Role: - Participate in weekly meetings with farm educators, volunteers, and graduate student coordinators
- Help develop research protocols in socially-engaged research
- Implement, assess, and evaluate specific agroecology projects taking place at the Farm
- Join farm working group meetings when appropriate
- Take on a weekly shift at the farm, and ensure good attendance at that weekly shift
- Write blog and/or social media posts to promote learning at the farm
- Support Intern Student Coordinator in compiling the farm’s Semi-Annual
- Report by collecting data, improving on-farm data collection systems, writing and mixed media.
Qualifications: - Excitement to work as a team within Gill Tract’s collective governance structure
- Be self-motivated and want to take an active role in shaping the direction of your internship experience
- Willingness to learn-by-doing and try new things
- Excellent communication skills and excitement to work through challenges as part of a collective
- Interest in food, farming, agroecology, and related fields
- Aptitude in collecting data and writing reports
- Availability to drive, take the bus, or bike (internship includes a $500 travel stipend) to the farm for 1) Tuesdays or Thursdays 2-5pm and 2) Two to four Sundays per month and 3) two farm festivals: Oct 29, 2023, and April 28th, 2024 and 4) two community workshops, date to be determined collectively
- As their website states, part of the Gill Tract’s vision is “return of land to its rightful stewards, practicing rematriation and reparations as modes of collective healing, and community-based land stewardship rooted in right relationship with poor, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, unhoused, and/or landless peoples of the world.” Because the Gill Tract believes that these communities must be centered in their work, we strongly encourage people of these identities to apply.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Effie Rawlings, Staff Researcher
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: 1050 San Pablo Avenue Albany, CA 94706
Environmental Issues