The Lund Fellows Program for Regenerative Agriculture provides Cornell undergraduate students across disciplines with the opportunity to broaden their perspectives and understanding of natural ecosystems and to learn about ecological and social approaches to agricultural systems. 

The Lund Fellows Program provides students opportunities to gain applied experience working on an agroecological farm and contribute to the farm in meaningful and helpful ways, while learning about the process and considerations involved in managing such an enterprise.

We work to spread awareness about the value and mission of agroecological biodynamic, organic, regenerative, and sustainable approaches to farming, strengthen relationships between the university and local farms and provide assistance to small farms that could not otherwise fund summer internships. 

Host farms participating in the Lund Fellows Program were prioritized based on the following values: 

• Explicitly uses agroecological, biodynamic and/or organic farming methods
• Diversified farm (not just certified organic with industrial farming approach)
• Small-scale farm (less than 200 hectares)
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers when possible

Internship description

The student in this position will serve as a Dilmun Hill Farm Manager. Student managers serve in a leadership position for the farm and the greater Dilmun Hill community at Cornell. Dilmun Hill managers (3-4 students) work collaboratively as a team to operate the farm with support from the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (Cornell AES), a diverse group of CALS faculty, staff, and students.

Student managers are responsible for vegetable crop planning and production, sales and marketing, and outreach to the Cornell student community. Managers start working part-time during the spring semester, shift to full-time through the summer, and continue part-time in the fall semester. In the spring semester, managers undergo farm orientation and training, and work to prepare the farm for the upcoming season, including crop planning, seed orders, field preparation, and greenhouse work. They spend the summer working on the farm with responsibilities including field and high tunnel production (e.g., planting, weeding, irrigation, harvesting), coordinating markets and distribution (CSA, U-pick, farm stands, donation), managing communications and social media, and organizing educational/outreach activities for members the Cornell community. The fall season has a greater emphasis on student outreach, where managers organize volunteer work groups, provide class tours, and help coordinate social events through the Dilmun Hill Student Farm club.

As a member of the student manager team, the Lund Fellow is expected to take leadership in developing the Dilmun Hill Farm Report, which presents an annual summary of Dilmun Hill operations, activities, and experiences to share with the Cornell community.

Basic Qualifications and Preferred Experience

We welcome students from all colleges and majors. Success in this position will require some familiarity with farming or gardening and a passion for learning more about small farm practices and local food systems. Students should have the ability to conduct physical work in a field setting. It is critical to bring a collaborative work ethic to the position and have a commitment to maintaining positive working relationships, as workloads and responsibilities are collectively designated and shared. Students should be highly motivated and show the ability to work independently, develop work plans, and set priorities on the farm. Students need to demonstrate open, responsive, and effective communication skills to work effectively among the manager team, Cornell CALS faculty and staff, and the greater Cornell community

Internship schedule 

Part-time during the academic year, spring and fall semesters, at 10 hrs/week with schedules flexible depending on classes. Summer work (end May – Mid Aug) is full-time at 39 hours/week, Monday through Friday.

About the farm

Dilmun Hill Student Farm is Cornell’s student-run farm that seeks to foster community and empower students through active engagement in ecological agriculture. It is open to anyone and is a place for experiential learning, group collaboration, research, and outreach. Dilmun Hill is a small and highly, diversified farm that sits within the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) system located on the

Ithaca main campus. As a campus-based and student-centered diversified farm, Dilmun provides an exciting and inclusive environment to work, learn, and build community.

Additional information

Please contact Ryan Maher, Organic Farm Coordinator, at rmm325@cornell.edu, if you have any questions about Dilmun Hill and the Student Farm Manager position.