Climate-Smart Coordinator

Overview

Position: Climate-Smart Coordinator

Location:

Farmers are located from the central to northeastern Piedmont region, potentially including counties ranging from Chatham to Northampton. Compensated day-time travel for 50-75 farm visits per year is required. Remote work is allowed, as is space in our office located in Warrenton, NC.

Compensation:

Salary range is $45,000 to $55,000, full time, exempt. This full-time position includes great benefits, including paid health insurance and paid time off.  Hours will vary throughout the year, and may require some early morning, evening, and weekend work.

Why join Working Landscapes?

Working Landscapes is a non-profit, community-based organization in Warrenton, NC, dedicated to building healthy and sustainable lives and livelihoods through the stewardship of our natural and cultural assets. Since 2010, Working Landscapes has developed or aided many agricultural, public health, and environmental initiatives, but the core of our work has been the development of our food hub, ByWay Foods. Our facility contains shared storage space and a fresh-cut processing facility that allows us to supply food access programs and local school cafeterias with fresh produce grown in our own region. Our business is a crucial intermediary helping to increase the market for sustainable, locally grown produce by educating consumers and coordinating sales with farmers. The work of this new project is an extension of our role as a community-based intermediary to facilitate the adoption of climate-smart practices on our farmland. By joining our team, you’ll be part of a cultural movement toward the regeneration of our land, community, and economy. The work we do now will enhance our true wealth–our knowledge, skills, health, and ecological function–and increase our collective resilience for the challenges in decades ahead.

Climate-Smart Coordinator

We are seeking team members to design and implement a program promoting climate-smart agriculture across North Carolina by providing funding and technical assistance to farmers.. This work is funded by a USDA Climate Smart Commodities Program grant, and we are excited to lead this 5-year project in collaboration with numerous food hub, farmer, and university partners. The project will bring together community-based farmer service methods, cutting-edge soil science, and emerging climate-smart marketing strategies into a single program. The groundwork of the coordinator role is building relationships of trust with farmers, then providing informed and effective service to benefit their farm and the broader food system. As a coordinator, you’ll be the boots on the ground to enroll farms in the program, help them select and implement climate-smart practices, and assess the ecological impacts. You’ll also work collaboratively with other coordinators across the state, food hubs, project leadership, and other project stakeholders to enhance the program. The role is multifaceted and fundamentally relational. We’re seeking candidates with diverse experiences in farming and food systems, farmer services, and program coordination who can effectively serve historically underserved and minority populations. If this energizes you, we eagerly invite you to apply.

Responsibilities

• Manage a cohort of 20-25 farmers through on-farm visits, regular communication, and organized file tracking to coordinate their enrollment and participation in the project
• Build trust with farmers through active listening, compassionate service, clear and transparent communication, and cultural sensitivity
• Understand and promote the practical methods and scientific basis of regenerative agriculture and soil health to a farmer audience
• Utilize standard procedures and paperwork (tailored to context) to collect farm information and document project activities
• Collaborate with farmers and utilize project templates to develop a Climate-Smart Transition Plan for each farm that connects farmers’ climate-smart goals with actionable project activities
• Build relationships with local food hub personnel and serve as a local liaison between Working Landscapes, the farmer cohort, and food hub personnel
• Follow procedures and training provided by Emory University personnel for collecting soil samples and conducting other ecological assessments, and training farmers in these methods
• Build relationships with local public, private, and non-profit representatives of local agriculture and food systems organizations and stay informed about local agricultural events and news
• Collaborate with local stakeholders to organize quarterly in-person educational events
• Meet farmers multifaceted needs that may contribute to project goals, such as assisting with additional grant or certification applications, or providing business management assistance
• Contribute to ongoing project evaluation and strategic planning activities organized by project leadership, including the marketing of climate-smart products
• Diligently and promptly maintain project data and prepare quarterly reports according to templates
• Represent project mission and goals effectively and professionally in a diversity of circumstances
• Take responsibility for and demonstrate persistence and creativity in meeting project goals

In addition to the above project activities, also the following organizational activities as needed: 

• Contribute to grant proposals, fundraising initiatives, or story-telling on behalf of the organization
• Stay abreast of relevant news and developments in the sector; engage in professional development
• Contribute content (short writing, images, statistics on programs) to organizational promotional materials on a regular basis
• Represent the organization through networking events, conferences, media events, collaborative projects, open houses, etc. as requested; help to organize events as appropriate
• Promote a healthy, respectful, adaptive and productive workplace culture

Qualifications

• At least two years of experience in farming, food systems, soil science, or related field
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Well-organized and detail-oriented work style; a personable disposition suited to managing active partnerships with farmers, participating food hubs, and other project partners
• Commitment to the principles of network-driven, ecologically sustainable, socially just, asset-based community development
• Strong computer skills, with ability to quickly learn and use new programs
• Strong understanding of the principles and methods of regenerative agriculture, and ability to explain ideas and practices to diverse populations
• Strong understanding of current issues and stakeholders in the regenerative food system movement locally and nationally

Working Landscapes is an equal opportunity employer.

Learn more about our organization:

www.WorkingLandscapesNC.org

ByWayFoods.com

- At least two years of experience in farming, food systems, soil science, or related field
- Excellent verbal and written communications skills
- Well-organized and detail-oriented work style; a personable disposition suited to managing active partnerships with farmers, participating food hubs, and other project partners
- Commitment to the principles of network-driven, ecologically sustainable, socially just, asset-based community development
- Strong computer skills