JOB TITLE: Owner & CSA Manager, Raleigh’s Hillside Farm
THE JOB: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers grow, harvest, and deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to members of their communities. Lauren and her husband grow things like tomatoes, peppers, and watermelons on their 10-acre farm.
WHY IT HAS A FUTURE: The demand for locally grown, healthy produce is growing like, well, a weed—in 2019, consumers spent an estimated $20 billion on local food, twice as much as just five years earlier.
THIS MIGHT BE THE JOB FOR YOU IF . . . you love gardening, working with people, and creative problem-solving. At first, Lauren and her husband couldn’t afford a shed for packing and washing produce, so they washed everything on a big cement slab behind her parents’ house!
GET STARTED NOW! Look up CSA farms in your area and see if they offer internship programs. Some high schools have agriculture classes, but don’t worry if yours doesn’t. “If you’re a hard worker, a farm would love to have you,” Lauren says.