CCOF Seeks Farm Certification Specialist
Position Title:
Position Summary:
The CCOF Farm Certification Specialist provides bilingual (English/Spanish) technical services to certified farm clients and new applicants. This role involves both regulatory follow-through (communicating requirements) and technical assistance on regulatory topics to support equitable access to the certification process for clients of various backgrounds.
This is a full-time, non-exempt position that reports to the Spanish Services Supervisor. This is a remote “work from home” position. The regular schedule is an 8-hour workday that falls within the 7am to 7pm timeframe in the employee’s time zone. This ensures availability for contact during the majority of normal CCOF business hours (8am-5pm Pacific Time). We will also consider candidates who would like to work from our Santa Cruz, CA office.
This position does not include on-site inspections of certified organic operations and will not include field work in the future. There may be occasional opportunities to represent CCOF at trade shows and conferences, depending on interest and availability to travel.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Reviews inspection reports, mid-year updates such as land history, seed and planting stock use, crop rotation and soil management, natural resource management, input materials (fertility, soil amendments, pest control, etc.), equipment, post-harvest handling, labeling, records, and audit trail documentation, etc.
- Reviews applications of prospective and currently certified farm and post-harvest handling operations.
- Makes autonomous or semi-autonomous decisions about compliance with USDA NOP and other applicable standards. Seeks guidance when needed to ensure that standards and CCOF Quality System are implemented so that we excel when we are audited.
- Works daily with a complex, proprietary database to perform the regular tasks of the job. Ensures that database records are consistent and current.
Specific Duties:
- Provides clear and accessible written and verbal communication to CCOF clients via email, letter, phone, and occasional virtual or in-person meetings.
- Utilizes regulatory text and other resources, including technical support staff office hours, to make compliance decisions.
- Independently manages workload to ensure timely review of client updates and inspection reports.
- Completes a quality and quantity of work on par with other Farm Certification Specialists of similar tenure.
- Attends recurring staff meetings and monitors internal communications, to maintain updated knowledge of current topics, updates, and announcements.
- Works on special projects as deemed necessary by the Director of Farm Programs.
Required Education:
- Either a B.A. or B.S. degree or higher in an applicable field (e.g., environmental science, agriculture, etc.) OR at least 3 years’ experience in the applicable field; work, volunteer, etc
Required Qualifications:
- Critical thinking skills to independently navigate unfamiliar situations and use available resources to problem-solve. Ability to ask for help when needed.
- Excellent communication skills in English and Spanish. Strong written and verbal skills to communicate effectively in Spanish with farm operators in the US and Mexico. Ability to work with various groups and demographics of people through clear written and verbal communication. Comfort in a role that involves communicating requirements in a regulatory follow-through.
- Highly organized, motivated, and detail oriented. Ability to organize, monitor, plan ahead, and follow through on tasks with competing deadlines while maintaining quality. Ability to notice errors (because no one is perfect) and turn them into learning opportunities.
- Computer proficiency in word processing, formatting, databases, and email. Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel.
- Ability to provide technical support and build trust through customer service.
Desired Qualifications:
- Familiarity with and interest in growth and learning around diversity, equity, and inclusion values.
- IOIA Organic Farm Inspector training or similar, such as auditor training for food quality production systems.
- Experience with and/or knowledge of organic regulations, organic industry, environmental regulatory programs.
- Practical field experience in agriculture, preferably organic.
- Experience working remotely and/or collaborating with remote teams.
- Alignment with CCOF’s mission to advance organic agriculture for a healthy world.
Physical and Travel requirements:
- Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- This position may involve occasional opportunities to travel for staff events and/or to represent CCOF professionally in regulatory meetings, tradeshows, and industry events, etc.
Compensation:
- $56,238 - $60,000
Apply:
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested applicants, please submit the following documents to employment@ccof.org with Farm Certification Specialist in the subject line:
- Cover letter summarizing your interest in CCOF and the position, and qualifications
- Current resume
- List of three professional/academic references
CCOF is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage people with diverse backgrounds and experience to apply. Inclusivity is a core value at CCOF. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable work and learning environments for all employees. We believe every member of our team enriches our diversity by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. Thank you for your interest in this position!