American Farmland Trust: TX Implementation Specialist
Position Title:
TX Implementation Specialist
Job Location:
Decatur, TX
Job Purpose:
The Implementation Specialist position offers an exciting opportunity to help farmers, ranchers, and other landowners implement conservation practices. In this role you will act in support of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), meeting with farmers, ranchers, and other landowners who have already secured financial assistance contracts but have not yet implemented the practices. You will assist those farmers in overcoming any barriers to implementing the practices that they have received funding for. This technical assistance will vary by farm and by practice, but might include helping to find more funding, consulting other technical experts, researching, and helping to find and select appropriate contractors, finding supplies or specialized equipment, coordinating with other government entities, and more, all in support of a wide range of agronomic and engineering practices. Technical Service Provider (TSP) training will be provided by NRCS, such as Nutrient Management or Grazing Management Planning, based on the needs of the producers requiring implementation assistance.
The position will be based in North Texas either in Wise, Montague, and Clay counties OR Hill, Ellis, and Navarro counties. The applicant is expected to live in or commute to these locations. You will work in a unique role, as an AFT employee, but in deep cooperation and frequent coordination with the funder, NRCS. A NRCS Assistant Conservationist for Field Operations and AFT’s Texas Director will work together to guide your workflow to assure it is integrated with NRCS’s needs and utilizes the full depth of both NRCS and AFT resources and expertise. You will work from an NRCS service center at least three days a week with the ability to work remotely on occasion. The initial focus of the position is on targeted intervention to support contracts that are facing hurdles to implementation, with time it may also include promoting participation in conservation practices and agricultural land conservation via outreach and education with producers.
duties and responsibilities:
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Assist the Resource Team Leaders and District Conservationists in identifying priority clients for targeted outreach and intervention.
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Provide technical assistance and practice implementation guidance based upon NRCS guidelines and technical experience to ensure final conservation practices meet the goals and responsibilities of NRCS.
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Prepare and offer guidance to landowners/producers for the implementation of conservation practices. Practice implementation includes but is not limited to field investigations, topographic site surveying, practice analysis and design, layout, construction inspection, and development of as built plans.
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Provide technical and administrative support, recommendations, and implementation assistance on Farm Bill programs. This may include but is not limited to conservation planning and application assistance, status reviews, case file management, and general administrative activities.
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Using a variety of methods (e-mail, phone, or traveling to the farm) establish direct contact with farmers with existing financial assistance contracts with NRCS, and work with the farmers to identify barriers to project completion.
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Identify areas where practices implementation within the existing contract requirements is not possible and communicate the situation and need for contract modifications to NRCS.
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Develop and compile extensive notes on all interactions with farmers to properly document support and progress towards contract completion; and contribute to the maintenance of program contract file folders.
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Assist field office staff with contacting program applicants for data collection and work with farmers to compile necessary data for contract completion.
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Develop and curate a deep rolodex of service providers and contractors across the service area.
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Participate in trainings as directed by NRCS and AFT.
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Travel extensively across your identified counties visiting diverse farms and farmers to execute the job functions.
qualifications:
The Implementation Specialist must be a highly motivated and entrepreneurial problem solver. They should be able to use their real-world experience on farms, or in other land management, construction, or land stewardship jobs to provide actionable assistance to farmers seeking to implement conservation practices on their land. The ideal candidate will have existing connections within the farm community and will have experience working with a wide variety of farm types and with diverse populations. The ideal candidate will find visiting farmers on their farm, problem solving, identifying resource concerns, and researching solutions to challenging farm specific problems exciting and invigorating, not overwhelming and intimidating.
Excellent communication skills (meeting facilitation, phone, writing, partner relations), record keeping, and task management are essential to the position. The ideal candidate will ask the extra question to help make connections and identify solutions, even when the solution, or even the problem might not be obvious. Specific qualifications of the ideal candidate are:
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Experience with NRCS funded conservation practices is especially valuable, but not required.
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A deep working knowledge of Texas agriculture or conservation and an understanding of the culture of farmers and farming.
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Proven track record of implementing or assisting with implementation of conservation practices.
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Proven track record in developing relationships with others and supporting them in achieving their goals, ideally in a farming or land management context.
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Ability to see the big picture while being incredibly detail oriented.
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Success in roles requiring simultaneous management of multiple priorities and processes under tight timelines is important.
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Proven ability to work with efficiency, flexibility, and good humor.
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Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with a wide array of people – junior and senior, government, for-profit, and nonprofit, and from diverse backgrounds.
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Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills are essential.
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A valid US driver’s license and access to reliable transportation.
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Passionate about American Farmland Trust’s mission and impact.
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Willingness and ability to complete and pass a USDA background check.
Education and experience:
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At least 6 years of professional experience, working on farms or in land stewardship or land management positions. A college degree in a directly related field may be substituted for up to 4 years of work experience.