Position Description 

Job Title: San Joaquin Valley Farmer Advocate

Job Category: Manager II – Manager III 

Location: Fresno, CA / Hybrid / (With occasional trips to Sacramento) 

FTE: 1 FTE

Salary: $70,000-$80,000 / annually

FLSA: Exempt

Reports To: Policy Director

Other details: Bilingual required, Spanish 

Bilingual Pay Differential: Eligible 

CAFF is a California-based membership organization that includes family farmers and other community members passionate about local food, farming, and the environment.  As a farmer-serving organization, we recognize the historic and lasting inequities in the California food and farming system. We believe farmers of color, and other historically oppressed people, should have the opportunity to create and participate in a food and agriculture system that aligns with their needs, values, identities, knowledge systems, and communities. We commit to advancing racial, gender, and environmental justice in our larger systems, as well as in our own workplace. Currently, our programming is focused in four areas: Farm to Market, Policy & Advocacy, Farmer Services, and Ecological Farming. To learn more about CAFF, our history, and our core values, visit https://www.caff.org/about.

Position Summary

The San Joaquin Valley Farmer Advocate will play a pivotal role in supporting small-scale and underserved farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. This position will focus on organizing and advocacy for small-scale and underserved farmers while building bridges with farmworker and environmental justice organizations and shaping a just transition in agriculture. A successful candidate will help strengthen regional networks, elevate farmer challenges to policymakers, have the ability to work independently, is a self-starter/highly motivated, has strong communication, facilitation, and public speaking skills, and is passionate about CAFF’s mission and core values.

Position Overview

The interests of California’s family-scale farmers, particularly small and historically underserved farmers, are often overshadowed by powerful corporate interests (e.g, hedge funds, investment firms, etc). For over 47 years, CAFF has worked to amplify the voices of these farmers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. In more recent years, we have focused on supporting small-scale farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and throughout the state and fostering partnerships with farmworkers and environmental justice groups to build a more equitable future.

CAFF seeks a Farmer Advocate to work directly with farmers, organizations, and governmental representatives to advance policy solutions that create a healthy and more just agricultural system in the San Joaquin Valley and throughout the state. The Farmer Advocate will work on strengthening regional farmer networks while meaningfully building relationships with environmental justice and farmworker organizations. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong initiative and the ability to navigate complex issues, including farm labor and farmer advocacy related to immigration reform, and development of strong partnerships, creating opportunities for collaboration and movement building. This person should be independently driven, with experience in multicultural organizing, project management, and facilitation skills, and have experience and a passion for California agriculture.

As a vital part of the Policy Team, this position will identify opportunities and challenges by organizing and listening to farmers, articulating policy positions at the state, local, and federal levels, and supporting general policy communications. The Farmer Advocate is expected to have a broad range of expertise and interest in learning about important issues affecting agricultural communities (farmers, farmworkers, and environmental justice communities), including access to land, water, capital, infrastructure, marketing, and climate change.

While the list below includes many initial duties and responsibilities, this is an evolving position and we anticipate some of these may shift over time as relationships are built, research is conducted, and our role in the community is more clearly defined. An ideal candidate will want to help shape the position and workplan with the Policy Team.

 

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Essential responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

% Time — Description

20% — Farmer Organizing & Engagement

• Collaborate with Policy Director and other CAFF staff in the region to develop an outreach and engagement plan for farmers
• Establish and uphold relationships of accountability with farmers and connect them with essential resources and opportunities (e.g. legal assistance, grant opportunities, technical assistance) 
• Help design and implement the annual CAFF farmer policy platform by organizing and hosting in-person farmer gatherings, workshops, & legislative farm tours
• Develop communication tools with contractors including but not limited to storytelling projects, videography, social media content, blogs, etc.

20% — Policy Advocacy

• Cultivate relationships with key policymakers, staff, and agency officials
• Collaborate with the CAFF lobbyist on advocacy needs as they arise, including reviewing, writing, and editing legislative language, attending hearings, providing testimony, writing position letters or public comments on behalf of CAFF and our members. This includes occasional travel to Sacramento as policy needs dictate.
• Coordinate policy advocacy with active coalitions and networks on legislation
• Educate key decision-makers around policies that impact small and underserved farmers
• Support district-level field visits between legislative staff and CAFF farmer members and partners

20% — Community and Partnerships

• Develop strong and trusting relationships with agricultural, environmental, environmental justice, and farmworker organizations in the San Joaquin Valley 
• Integrate environmental justice priorities with agricultural policy. Identify pathways for shared work based on mutual trust, respect, and understanding, aware of the historic harms that the agricultural sector has created
• Find strong areas of overlap and opportunities for collaboration on state-level legislation
• Engage in local coalitions and working groups in the region that support ongoing collaboration efforts with farmers as well as environmental justice and farmworker partners

20% — Policy Advocacy

• Cultivate relationships with key policymakers, staff, and agency officials
• Collaborate with the CAFF lobbyist on advocacy needs as they arise, including reviewing, writing, and editing legislative language, attending hearings, providing testimony, writing position letters or public comments on behalf of CAFF and our members. This includes occasional travel to Sacramento as policy needs dictate.
• Coordinate policy advocacy with active coalitions and networks on legislation
• Educate key decision-makers around policies that impact small and underserved farmers
• Support district-level field visits between legislative staff and CAFF farmer members and partners

20% — Research & Analysis

• Conduct both qualitative and quantitative research on farmworker labor standards and stay up to date on evolving changes
• Develop written reports on relevant policy priority issue areas such as immigration reform and guides on labor standards family farmers should abide by 
• Stay up to date and engaged on immigration and labor issues as they pertain to the food and farming community in the SJV
• Be available to support and engage on ongoing policies and programs impacting farmers in the regions including including the impacts of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), Multipurpose Land Repurposing Program(MLRP), Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP) and more

15% — Project Management

• Manage large policy projects, which may include working collaboratively with partner organizations on project deliverables
• Complete grant administrative tasks such as reporting, budget management, grant writing, and so on
• Collaborate with CAFF staff on grant-writing, funder presentations and events, reporting, communications, and fundraising

5% – General CAFF Responsibilities 

This person will be an important member of CAFF’s Policy Team and work closely with all members of the team on various projects.

• Participate in CAFF’s Policy Team meetings and work closely with all members of the team on various projects
• Represent CAFF by participating in community activities and events
• Participate in weekly all-staff meetings and annual retreat(s)
• We know it’s impossible to convey every single task for a particular job in one job description. Our hope is that as we work together, and your role evolves over time, we can adjust your job description accordingly.

Qualifications

Educational and Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required
• At least 4 years of experience working in a policy and/or organizing position, ideally with a nonprofit organization
• Experience working with the farming community in sustainable agriculture or related fields preferred. 

 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong background in organizing, advocacy, or policy work, preferably in agricultural or environmental sectors.
• Versatility and comfort working in a dynamic environment. Straddling both the fast pace of policy and advocacy work and the slower, trust-building pace at local and community level
• Experience working with BIPOC communities, farmworker organizations, and/or tribal groups
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including farmers, policymakers, and environmental justice organizations
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Strong organizational skills with an ability to handle competing demands
• Effective written and oral communication skills in English and Spanish
• Demonstrated ability to effectively work with and support diverse team members through your understanding of self, language, culture, and community
• Experience writing reports and tracking major project deliverables
• Strong computer skills, including above-average knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, Google Workspace, and WordPress or similar
• Familiarity with and enthusiasm about social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube
• Willing and able to maintain strict confidentiality
• Desired experience: Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Action Network 

 

Physical Abilities

• Travel to events/activities on a weekly basis (valid driver’s license required)
• Ability to sit for long periods of time working at a computer.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
• Requires a full range of physical mobility, such as bending, stooping, lifting, turning, carrying objects, and grasping.

 

CAFF’s policy is that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage those from diverse backgrounds and from historically underserved communities to apply.

To apply: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and sample of your work that you feel is relevant to this position with the subject line “San Joaquin Valley Advocacy Manager” to jobs@caff.org on a rolling basis. Reference requests will be made further along in the application process.