Athens Land Trust is an innovative and adaptive community and conservation land trust in Georgia. We look for team members who are creative, deeply committed to advancing equity, and excited about embracing an evolving set of responsibilities and opportunities as the organization grows.
Athens Land Trust is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.
Farmer Technical Assistant
Georgia FarmLink is a web tool co-developed by Athens Land Trust and statewide partners that works to conduct outreach and support through educational activities and economic opportunities for underserved, new and beginning farmers across the state. It helps farmers access and protect important farmland, facilitates farmland succession planning, and ensures Georgia’s best farms continue contributing to the local economy through sustainable farming practices and farm business development strategies.
The Farmer Technical Assistant will provide resources to new and existing farmers to USDA’s Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service programs that promote sustainable farming and conservation practices, especially EQUIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) building capacity and supporting farms, food business and microenterprises by consulting over the phone and in person. The Farmer Technical Assistant will ensure all data is captured and organized efficiently. Work collaboratively with the Community Agriculture and Conservation teams at the Athens Land Trust.
Specific duties are as follows:
- Consult with farmers and landowners of various backgrounds, scales and farm enterprises to set them up for success.
- Support to increase the opportunities for beginning, non-traditional farmers by providing educational activities including food safety training, value-added product development, crop planning and more.
- On-farm support, collaboration, and mentorship opportunities with our Young Urban Farmer program.
- Assist in strengthening the farmer network through on-the-farm practical workshops.
- Work closely with the GA FarmLink Program Director to update Farmer & Farm Land Match Database.
- Provide farmers information on support services, including seedlings, materials, classes, workshops, conferences.
- Share Georgia FarmLink resources that enhance the tools provided for that best serve Georgia’s farmers.
- The areas of farmer consultancy include crop planning, field planning, irrigation, tractor instruction, agricultural scalability, diverse farming practices, farm resource networks, farm records, agricultural policies and agricultural markets.
- Be an advocate for our core values and ensure all decisions, programs, and processes are aligned with our culture and core beliefs.
All ALT Employees:
- Be in the office according to a predetermined schedule to answer email and messages, prepare detailed timesheets, coordinate with fellow staff.
- Participate in grant management including grant writing support and reporting.
- Write newsletter articles, and brochure and educational materials related to ALT’s programs and activities.
- Attend weekly staff meetings.
- Be part of a team-provide support for all staff members in their respective duties.
Qualifications:
- Understanding of grants, federal funding, grant writing, and fundraising with private sector businesses.
- Creativity in developing and executing capacity building programs for adults.
- Ability to consult in different settings and conditions.
- Excellent analytical, organizational, and administrative skills. The candidate must show attention to detail and demonstrate accuracy and timeliness in record keeping, problem solving and tracking.
- Experience with developing and managing successful and diverse farm business operations.
- Ability to successfully manage multiple assignments without close supervision. They must be able to prioritize and meet deadlines.
- Communicate effectively with diverse populations.
- Show flexibility and be comfortable with being part of a team effort.
- Proficiency in Zoom, Excel, Word, cloud software (e.g., Salesforce) and interest to learn new technological systems.
Education:
Any combination of experience and agriculture, agribusiness management, agricultural education, nonprofit administration, or farm ownership experience is preferred.
Compensation:
This is a part-time position. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
To apply, please send a resume and a letter of interest to Emmanuel Stone at emmanuel@athenslandtrust.org.
Farm Business Specialist
The Farm Business Specialist will manage and coordinate all elements of the business training program including managing three market channels (online, in person and wholesale), building capacity and supporting farms, food business and microenterprises through teaching the Grow Your Farm Business (GYFB) sessions, creating commercial sponsorship, demand creation marketing and identifying new donor funding. Farm Business Specialist will provide strategic leadership of volunteers, interns, new vendors and commercial sponsors. The Farm Business Specialist will manage digital platforms and ensure all data is captured and organized efficiently. Work collaboratively with the Community Agriculture and Conservation team’s at the Athens Land Trust.
Specific duties are as follows:
- Collaborate with operation, program and finance staff to coordinate the design, planning, innovations and execution of the Grow Your Farm Business program, both retail, farmers market and wholesale streams.
- Provide accurate reporting on activities, participation and finances of the market progress.
- Create curriculum and teach growers from a diverse background how to expand their businesses and profits through market channels, demand creation, increase sales, and innovation around each unique business model.
- Develop improved curriculum for GYFB sessions that demonstrate improved skills, capacity and executed business plans.
- The areas of instruction will include farm records, agricultural and water policy, agricultural markets, agricultural economics, sales and customer service, agricultural finance and small business management.
- Partner with external speakers to improve the Grow Your Farm Business sessions that will show demonstrated improvement in business skills and business plans of participants.
- Be an advocate for our core values and ensure all decisions, programs, and processes are aligned with our culture and core beliefs.
- Collaborate with development staff to grow and diversify the organization’s funding sources.
- Ensure professional implementation of the inclusive 10-week training course.
- Collaborate with the GA FarmLink Director on incorporating farmers across the state in the operation of GYFB.
All ALT Employees:
- Be in the office according to a predetermined schedule to answer email and messages, prepare detailed timesheets, coordinate with fellow staff.
- Participate in grant management including grant writing support and reporting.
- Write newsletter articles, and brochure and educational materials related to ALT’s programs and activities.
- Attend weekly staff meetings.
- Be part of a team-provide support for all staff members in their respective duties.
Qualifications:
- Understanding of grants, federal funding, grant writing, and fundraising with private sector businesses.
- Creativity in developing and executing capacity building programs for adults.
- Ability to teach in an indoor, outdoor and digital classroom setting.
- Excellent analytical, organizational, and administrative skills. The candidate must show attention to detail and demonstrate accuracy and timeliness in record keeping, problem solving and tracking.
- Experience with developing and managing successful farm business operations.
- Ability to successfully manage multiple assignments without close supervision. They must be able to prioritize and meet deadlines.
- Communicate effectively with diverse populations.
- Show flexibility and be comfortable with being part of a team effort.
- Proficiency in Zoom, Excel, Word, cloud software (e.g., Salesforce) and interest to learn new technological systems.
Education:
Any combination of experience and agriculture, agribusiness management, agricultural education, nonprofit administration or farm ownership experience preferred.
Compensation:
This is a full-time position with benefits.
To apply, please send a resume and a letter of interest to Emmanuel Stone at emmanuel@athenslandtrust.org.
Youth Employment Opportunities
Our Youth Development programs are unique. We offer three paid job skills training programs, the Young Urban Farmers the Young Urban Builders and the Young Conservation Stewards Each program provides paid training and education for high-school aged youth in Athens-Clarke County.
Our approach incorporates on-site training, exposure to new opportunities, leadership development and classroom education, that delivers both specialized and general job skills, and community involvement to help ensure that the next generation of leaders are invested in where they live. We work to create personal connections between the youth in our programs and leaders in the community and the respective industries that are vital to increased job placement and social capital once they have graduated from their program.
Young Urban Farmers: 2022-2023 School Year
We are now accepting applications for the Young Urban Farmers program for the 2022 school year, with a projected start of late August to Early September, 2021.
Young Urban Farmers (YUF) duties and responsibilities will include: Learning and implementing sustainable agricultural skills which will involve working in several community gardens as well as the Williams’s Farm, the Athens Land Trust’s urban farm. YUF will also learn entrepreneurial skills and create a business plan for a product that could be produced and sold at the West Broad Farmers Market.
The YUF must:
- Commit to the program for the dates of September 2022 to June 2023
- Have a reliable mode of transportation to and from the work meeting place.
- Transportation to alternative work locations after meeting at the scheduled meeting place may be provided by the YUF Coordinator.
- Be prepared to work in a wide range of weather conditions.
- Be aged 16 to 20 (or 14-15 with a valid work permit) and enrolled or completed CCSD high school or GED program. Must be a Clarke County resident.
YUF participants are expected to attend all regularly scheduled program days. Participants will work an average of 12 hours a week paid $9/hr for the time they are present and engaged at the worksite, rounded to the nearest quarter hour.
To apply, please download and complete the application. Applications can be submitted at the Athens Land Trust office:
685 North Pope Street, Athens, GA 30601 or emailed Tony Gayles at tony@athenslandtrust.org. Applications can also be completed through Google Forms in lieu of email or a paper copy.
Young Urban Builders: 2022-2023 School Year
We are now accepting applications for the Young Urban Builders program. The Young Urban Builders program was started in 2018 as a way to address youth unemployment and perform owner-occupied rehabilitation in the West Broad Neighborhood.
The program is designed to provide job training and experience while working on community projects and aiding in neighborhood revitalization. YUB students are involved at all stages in the rehabilitation process to allow for a variety of skills to be developed.
YUB duties and responsibilities include:
- learning and practicing workplace and tool safety
- proper use and maintenance of tools
- developing strong work ethics and basic job skills
- reading blueprints and interpreting written instructions
- using measurement tools and applied mathematics
Requirements:
Students must be between 16 and 24 years of age.
To apply:
Please download the application here and email it to Colin Blodorn, the Young Urban Builders Coordinator at colin@athenslandtrust.org or mail it to our office at 685 North. Pope Street, Athens, GA 30601. Applications can also be left in our secure dropbox at our office. Applications can also be turned in via Google Forms at the link below. We are accepting applications until all positions are filled.