Farmers for the future

Meet our current growers

Rachel

Rachel joined the farm in 2017 as a Growing Trainee. As of January 2022 she became one of our Co-Head Growers.

Naomi

Naomi is one of our Co-Head Growers and has been a member of staff since 2023.

Colette

Colette is our second-year Growing Trainee and has been a member of staff since 2024.

Mimi

Mimi is our first-year Growing Trainee and has been a member of staff since March 2025.

How we're shaping the farmers of the future

Workshops

Throughout the year, we host many workshops centered on food growing. During our annual events, we usually offer educational, participatory sessions on topics like seed sowing and transplanting. We have run various workshops on a range of topics and skill levels such as stone fruit tree pruning, tomato growing, and raspberry harvesting and jam making.

Keep an eye on our events page for any upcoming workshops or events.

Growing Traineeship

With the average age of UK farmers sitting at around 60 years old, it's crucial that we invest in training young people to not only champion a better food system, but to simply continue producing food for our society to eat. There are many barriers in place that lower the number of young people pursuing a career in farming, including lack of access to training opportunities and low wages.

At Sutton Community Farm we tackle these barriers by offering a 20-month paid traineeship opportunity for aspiring farmers to develop commercial growing skills. During the traineeship, our trainees learn the ins and outs of growing commercial-scale organic fruit, vegetables and salad crops, how to operate farm machinery and maintain infrastructure, the fundamentals of crop planning and record keeping and— something unique to our farm— how to support and lead volunteer groups in practical growing activities.

Our trainees graduate with the skills and confidence to be an organic veg farmer!

Cultivate Skills Programme

Our Cultivate Skills Programme (previously known as internship) is designed for those in the early stages of considering a career in farming who want to gain more experience by building a regular relationship with farm work throughout the main growing season.

Working alongside the Growing Team every Monday for five months during the busy growing season, our Cultivate Crew learns practical food growing skills and gains in-depth experience in all aspects of growing vegetables for sale! The programme also includes free lunches, travel expenses covered, excess veg to take home, and shoes and waterproofs to wear, so that we break as many barriers as possible.

Crop production volunteering

For those that want to come socialise, connect with nature-friendly food production, learn new skills and improve their mental and physical health, we offer crop production volunteering sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and select Saturdays.

This is a great opportunity for people who have little to no experience or knowledge of food growing to dip their toes into the field in a supported, informal setting. As is the case with all of our volunteering sessions, we also provide tea and toast breaks as well as community lunches every fortnight. Find more information on our volunteer page.

Workshops

Throughout the year, we host many workshops centered on food growing. During our annual events, we usually offer educational, participatory sessions on topics like seed sowing and transplanting. We have run various workshops on a range of topics and skill levels such as stone fruit tree pruning, tomato growing, and raspberry harvesting and jam making.

Keep an eye on our events page for any upcoming workshops or events.

Growing Traineeship

With the average age of UK farmers sitting at around 60 years old, it's crucial that we invest in training young people to not only champion a better food system, but to simply continue producing food for our society to eat. There are many barriers in place that lower the number of young people pursuing a career in farming, including lack of access to training opportunities and low wages.

At Sutton Community Farm we tackle these barriers by offering a 20-month paid traineeship opportunity for aspiring farmers to develop commercial growing skills. During the traineeship, our trainees learn the ins and outs of growing commercial-scale organic fruit, vegetables and salad crops, how to operate farm machinery and maintain infrastructure, the fundamentals of crop planning and record keeping and— something unique to our farm— how to support and lead volunteer groups in practical growing activities.

Our trainees graduate with the skills and confidence to be an organic veg farmer!