There are exciting times ahead for our friends at the Ecological Land Cooperative, as they share news of five new job opportunities. Lauren Simpson tells us more.

Following the successful delivery of our first two sites, clusters of three ecological small farms in Mid Devon and East Sussex, we have also purchased and are in the process of developing three further sites across the South of England and Wales. We have an ambitious plan to add five more small farm sites to our portfolio over the next four years.

We currently employ one full-time and five part-time staff, and strategic direction is led by ELC’s Board of Directors, which currently has five members who are elected at the Cooperative’s AGM. There are currently 485 members of the Cooperative.

We believe that ecological land-based livelihoods can help solve some of the most pressing environmental and social problems of our time, and we seek to marry ecological principles with sound business practice to help more people live and work on the land. This type of small-scale ecological production delivers a number of benefits including protecting the environment, building vibrant rural communities, providing employment and training, and supporting healthy diets through affordable, local produce.

Beyond this, our vision is one where land is valued and used as a means to enhance our collective good. At present, land in the UK is the target of financial speculation; in contrast, our model champions a collective, ecological and cooperative vision of land ownership and land use.

To help us achieve this we are recruiting for the following roles:

Finance and Administration Manager – 3 days per week

This is a new post for the Ecological Land Cooperative and we are looking for someone with strong financial management skills and an aptitude for administration to work closely with the Coordinator and the ELC Board of Directors.

Recruitment Timeline

The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4th January 2021.

We are expecting to hold interviews on Thursday 21st January 2021.

Find full details here.

Site Development Manager – 3 days per week

This is an exciting opportunity to lead on the development of new smallholding sites for the Ecological Land Cooperative.

Recruitment Timeline

The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4th January 2021.

We are expecting to hold interviews on Wednesday 27th January 2021.

Find full details here.

Communications Manager – 1 day per week

Recruitment Timeline

The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4th January 2021.

We are expecting to hold interviews on Thursday 28th January 2021.

Find full details here.

Steward Support and Community Development Manager – 2 days per week

This is a new post for the Ecological Land Cooperative and we are looking for someone who can bring skills and experience of supporting groups of people to develop into resilient communities.

Recruitment Timeline

The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4th January 2021.

We are expecting to hold interviews on Wednesday 20th January 2021.

Find full details here.

Fundraiser – 2 days per week

We have been very lucky to have an excellent Fundraiser, Mary Hogan, in post since March 2018. Mary is retiring in April 2021 and we are looking for someone to join us in March 2021 to enable a handover with Mary before she leaves. The ELC has built good relationships with a number of funders for both core and project funding and social investment loans.

Recruitment Timeline

The closing date for applications is the end of the day on Monday 25th January 2021.

We are expecting to hold interviews on Monday 8th February 2021.

Find full details here.

Keep an eye on all future job and volunteering opportunities with the Ecological Land Cooperative here.

About the author

Our mission at the Ecological Land Cooperative is to provide affordable opportunities for ecological land-based livelihoods in the UK. We support rural regeneration by developing affordable sites for farming, forestry and other rural enterprises which are viable and ecologically beneficial.