Agriculture Technical Assistance Specialist

Technical Assistance Specialist

Accelerating Appalachia (ACAP) is a groundbreaking pioneer of regenerative agriculture business accelerators, with a vision of creating networks in regenerative agriculture that foster resilient communities and local economies, and support commodity supply chains across the Central/Southern Appalachian region. Working directly with producers–including those impacted by job losses in mining, forestry and the textile industry–across the 8-state underserved regions, ACAP is a global leader when it comes to creating and growing producer pipelines to regenerative commodities. ACAP is committed to building a robust economy that benefits the agricultural sector, farmlands, the health and prosperity of people and communities in Central/Southern Appalachia and the rural southeast.

In 2023, ACAP launched Building Appalachian Agricultural Resilience (BAAR), an innovative program to incentivize farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices across eight states in Central/Southern Appalachia and the rural Southeast. Funded by the USDA, donors, and foundations, the BAAR program offers direct cash payments and training and marketing assistance.

The Technical Assistance Specialist will focus on service for our growing farmer participant network, including but not limited to advising farmers on practice selection, assisting with document gathering, and developing relationships. Qualified candidates should have experience in USDA conservation programs, regenerative agriculture and farmer technical assistance. This position is supported by a tight-knit team with program, data, communications and operations expertise, and will involve consistent communication and collaboration. Experience in telephone, email and database use (like Airtable) are especially valued. Experience working with USDA-NRCS programs and practices is preferred. ACAP employees work primarily remote. This position will be expected to travel throughout our 8 state service area to provide farmer support and technical assistance, to conferences and learning opportunities, and to team meetings.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the CPO and the leadership team to ensure ACAP's goals regarding farmer enrollment and experience are achieved
• Manage farmer incentives, farmer technical assistance staff or contractors to deliver successful outcomes for participating farmers
• Provide weekly updates to the ACAP team leadership on the farmer's journey in the BAAR program, utilizing the farmer journey template for tracking and reporting
• As the number of enrolled farmers grows and partners implement plans to support them, work with the CPO/COO to determine the additional administrative and financial capacity needed to meet programmatic goals
• Ensure legal and financial requirements (i.e. staff policies, USDA compliance reporting, etc.) of the organization in the delivery of farmer services

• Assist with farmer onboarding, and recruitment processes, in consultation with the CPO and relevant functional leads and partners.
• Organize farmer participation content in conjunction with CPO
• Onboard new farmers and provide assistance in developing implementation plans, preparing and submitting CPA-52's, and.
• Support existing design frameworks for farmer peer to peer support development as well as expand and refine peer to peer systems design.
• Prepare regular reports for leadership team and assist with quarterly reporting for granting agencies, including key metrics and insights to inform decision-making
• Assist Chief Database Manager with data collection and entry in order to streamline reporting and maintain necessary information on program participants.