Small Farms Storytelling & Communications Internship

The Cornell Small Farms Program supports and develops small farms-focused research and extension programs and fosters state-wide collaborations in support of farmers. The Communications Internship will contribute to the program’s goals by centering a student in an agricultural region of New York State to share farmers’ stories. This will be in the form of written, audio and visual storytelling that profile small farms. Farmer stories, from slice of life to decision-making to field experiments, help connect the Small Farms audience to each other. These stories also offer the farmer subjects a marketing opportunity for their farm businesses.

Roles and responsibilities 

Responsibilities are split between hands-on, research and outreach/extension efforts. Students will develop their writing, editing and content curation skills. This can include daily social media and news posts, production of monthly newsletter content, quarterly magazine articles, podcast episodes, plus other marketing materials as needed. Students will be interviewing farmers in-person and virtually, capturing audio and visual content, and identifying narratives from the interviews for storytelling opportunities.

Qualifications and previous coursework

This opportunity is available to non-graduating students in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

• Strong written communications skills, with an eagerness to learn more about multimedia communication if no previous experience
• Some familiarity with farming or agriculture and enthusiasm for learning more about small farms in NY
• Interest in agricultural research and ability to conduct physical work in a field setting
• Excellent organizational skills with strong attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and in a team
• Must be comfortable learning to use programs such as WordPress, email management platforms, Google Drive and Google Analytics
• Fluency or proficiency in Spanish is preferred but not required
• A valid driver's license is required as driving on behalf of the summer project will be essential

Learning outcomes 

This project will provide an opportunity to gain experience in communications, educational programming, and applied research serving small farms in New York and the Northeast. This internship will also provide a better understanding of extension work in support of small farms. The student will build their communications skills, comfortability with field visits to meet with farmers, learn new technologies, and more. At the conclusion of this project, the student will have a number of materials they created to build out their portfolio of work.