Job Opening: Central Chesapeake Field Programming Manager

Future Harvest CASA seeks a full-time, energetic, self-motivated, highly organized, and visionary manager to operate field programming for FHCASA’s Foodshed Field School.

Since 1998, Future Harvest, Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (FHCASA) has been providing education, networking, and advocacy to build a sustainable Chesapeake foodshed from farm and fishery to table. One of its core programs is the Foodshed Field School, which offers peer-to-peer and expert-led education programming on growing and sourcing locally and sustainably produced food and fiber in the Chesapeake region. The school consists of our annual conference, year-long Beginner Farmer Training Program (BFTP), and field programming that consists of about 20 workshops, field days, trainings and other educational events on farms and in food businesses around the region.

The position would primarily manage the field programming component of the Foodshed Field School, but also work closely with the BFTP director and conference manager to support those programs. The Central Chesapeake Field Programming Manager will report directly to FHCASA’s Executive Director and work in tandem with the Beginner Farmer Training Program Manager and the Communications and Outreach Manager. She or he will also work with an advisory committee of board members and other stakeholders to help with the development, execution, and evaluation of the programming. The manager has the option of working at home or at our office in Cockeysville, MD.

Submit résumé, two writing and/or marketing samples, and three references to Shannon Varley at shannon@futureharvestcasa.org. Deadline: July 21, 2017. Salary $43,500, with a 7%-of-salary benefits stipend.

Required Qualifications:

Minimum of two years’ work experience in food and farming systems and sustainable agriculture in the non-profit, government, or farming sectors; specific knowledge of the Chesapeake region food and farming community – which covers Central, Western, and Southern Maryland, Northern Virginia, Eastern West Virginia, and Washington DC – is a plus.

  • A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in education, agriculture, or related field;
  • Training in small event planning key (the manager is responsible for successful field event planning and execution, which involves a great deal of relationship building over the phone and in person); marketing and communications experience a plus;
  • Experience with, and demonstrated ability in, easily working with diverse stakeholders in the regional food economy – from farmers and fishers to retailers, wholesalers, chefs, and consumers;
  • Demonstrated superlative organizational skills to plan and execute about 15 field educational programs per year, which includes parts of the annual conference and overseeing the 10-part winter workshop series in Baltimore;
  • Demonstrated ability to work in a team, both internal and external, to create and strategically implement a vision for the school’s field programming, step-by-step;
  • Fundraising and grantwriting experience a plus;
  • Some exposure/experience with program evaluation via surveys, establishing metrics, and other analytical and evaluative systems;
  • Assist with various duties related to our Annual Conference;
  • Tabling/Exhibiting at regional and local meetings and conferences;
  • Demonstrated ability to easily pick up and master a variety of online tools for promoting and running the school; we are a virtual team and want to automate systems to keep our overhead low. Important applications: Excel, Word, Drupal, event registrations. InDesign, Photoshop, plus graphic design and/or photography experience a plus;
  • Demonstrated ability to use traditional and new online communications platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. Experience with Drupal or other web content systems a plus;
  • A car for frequent travel, smartphone with unlimited data plan, laptop computer with adequate memory for InDesign; color printer – all kept in good working order;
  • Willingness to travel and do some weekend work.

Submit résumé, two writing and/or marketing samples, and three references to Shannon Varley at shannon@futureharvestcasa.org. Deadline: July 21, 2017. Salary $43,500, with a 7%-of-salary benefits stipend.