Agriculture Specialist jobs in Washington, DC

Are you passionate about building an equitable and resilient food and agricultural system? Do you love working collaboratively? Do you keep the latest IPCC assessment within arms reach at all times? The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is seeking a Climate Policy Specialist to lead our Coalition’s climate change policy work. This role will build on your skills and experience in sustainable agriculture and climate policy, scientific analysis, direct advocacy, and grassroots engagement. If you are just as excited about applying a climate lens to farm policy development as you are about collaboratively building advocacy campaigns, this is the job for you.

The Climate Policy Specialist will engage in all elements of the Coalition’s climate change policy work in close collaboration with NSAC policy and grassroots staff and coalition members. In addition, the Climate Policy Specialist will work with other members of the policy team on shared campaigns and help to further our racial equity efforts, including through engagement with NSAC’s Racial Justice Committee. Because climate change is a cross-cutting issue, the Climate Policy Specialist will necessarily play a highly collaborative role alongside NSAC members, staff, and external partners and stakeholders to ensure that NSAC's overall approach to climate and agriculture is science-based, forward-thinking, and informed by climate-related priorities across NSAC's policy work.

This is a full-time, exempt, bargaining unit position that offers benefits as outlined in the employee handbook and reports to NSAC’s Policy Director. NSAC operates with a flexible work policy allowing for hybrid/remote work when possible. We strongly prefer that candidates be able to work on a regular basis from our Capitol Hill office at 110 Maryland Avenue, NE, Suite 209, Washington, DC. We will consider strong candidates based elsewhere with willingness to travel regularly to Washington.

The Organization

NSAC is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities. For over 35 years, NSAC’s stellar track record of policy accomplishments has been guided by a vision of agriculture where a safe, nutritious, ample, and affordable food supply is produced by a legion of family farmers who make a decent living pursuing their trade while protecting the environment and contributing to the strength and stability of their communities. Racial justice – an understanding and acknowledgment of historical and ongoing racial inequities and a commitment to actions challenging those inequities – is a core NSAC tenet we seek to embed in our structure, analysis, policy development, and advocacy.

Position Responsibilities

The Climate Policy Specialist is NSAC’s foremost agricultural climate expert, serving as lead staff for the Climate Change Subcommittee, leading policy and strategy for selected issue areas – including serving as primary point of contact on climate and energy-related cross-cutting issues – and representing NSAC and its positions to policymakers. However, NSAC’s climate change work is carried out by a collaborative cohort of policy and grassroots staff and involves a wide array of organizational Coalition members in addition to external movement allies. The Climate Policy Specialist, in conjunction with the NSAC policy team and NSAC member organizations, will establish and maintain key channels internally and externally to coordinate strategy, information-sharing, and campaign actions. The Climate Policy Specialist collaborates with all members of the NSAC team, and applies an equity lens to all work in support of NSAC’s commitment to advance racial equity both within organizational and coalitional internal processes and through external campaigns and policy goals.

Agricultural Climate Policy and Strategy Development - 45%

• Guide and inform NSAC’s overall approach to addressing the climate crisis through federal policy.

• Lead the research and development of occasional climate-related policy position papers to articulate NSAC's position, including on new or emerging issues.

• Assemble and collaborate in the drafting of policy materials, including legislative text, report language, testimony, rulemaking comment letters, and program analysis, among others.

• Research and stay abreast of developments in agriculture climate science, as well as public policy perspectives, options, threats, and opportunities.

• Speak on behalf of and represent NSAC at meetings, conferences, and other events.

• Contribute regular blog posts that strategically advance NSAC’s advocacy by establishing fact-based narratives, elevating issues in media, and sharing essential information with stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain relationships with media and offer comments as appropriate to further NSAC’s advocacy, in coordination with the communications team and Policy Director.

• Develop and maintain effective partnerships with other national organizations, and ensure adequate NSAC representation on our key working coalitions.

Climate Policy Advocacy and Implementation - 30%

• Advocate NSAC priorities and positions to Congressional and administrative decision-makers, including deciding on strategic approaches and conducting meetings to build relationships with relevant decision-makers and their staff.

• Track and analyze federal legislation and agency actions related to the issues and programs in your portfolio, including program RFAs, awards, usage, budget, and impacts.

• Support NSAC’s annual budget and appropriations work for the programs within your portfolio.

• Work with NSAC members and the Grassroots Team to plan and execute grassroots action campaigns, strategies, and alerts on the policy priorities within your portfolio, and in conjunction with NSAC’s Conservation, Energy and Environment Committee (CEE).

• Collaborate with other members of the policy team to share intelligence and coordinate on meetings and other actions, particularly in your role as staff point on cross-cutting issues, such as tracking agency MMRV efforts related to GHG mitigation and carbon sequestration, agricultural carbon markets, and some EPA agriculture-related issues.

• Serve on advisory boards, commissions, and other similar bodies when appropriate to advance NSAC’s advocacy agenda, including participation in relevant agency meetings and Congressional hearings and briefings.

• Assist NSAC member organizations in meeting and communicating directly with their congressional delegations and with administrative decision-makers, including staffing fly-ins, in conjunction with the Grassroots Team.

Issue Committee Management - 15%

• Serve as primary staff to help coalition members who participate in the Climate Change Subcommittee (and other sub/committees as necessary) develop and implement specific policy priority campaigns, plan for and learn about emerging issues, and stay abreast of sign-on and backburner issues.

• Work with Racial Justice Committee liaisons, committee co-chairs, and the NSAC policy team to actively apply a racial equity lens to NSAC’s policy work, including during the annual priority setting process.

• Work with co-chairs and liaisons to cultivate an inclusive and respectful community that welcomes participation by all members, encourages authentic connection, endeavors to achieve consensus decisions, and emphasizes alignment with NSAC’s community agreements and values.

Organizational Support - 10%

• Provide input to grant proposals and grant reports and evaluations.

• Participate in recurring full team or policy team meetings, and other ad hoc meetings as needed.

• Participate in racial affinity caucusing (staff and coalition).

• Assist as needed with organizing and facilitating NSAC meetings, including taking turns rotating facilitation of monthly equity lunch discussions and helping plan our biannual coalition meetings.

Desired Qualifications

This is not an entry level position. The ideal candidate will have at least 3-5 years of climate policy or advocacy experience and possess strong organizational and analytical skills, excellent attention to detail, and a demonstrated interest in advancing equitable and resilient farm and food systems. We strongly encourage interested candidates to apply if they meet at least 75% of the qualifications. We also strongly encourage applications from people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women, people with non traditional academic backgrounds, LGBTQ people, or those who are members of other marginalized communities.

• An understanding of and passion for sustainable agriculture and food systems.

• Demonstrated understanding of how racial equity intersects with agriculture and food systems and the ability and enthusiasm to apply this understanding to specific research and analysis, policy development, ground-truthing, and decision-making.

• A master’s degree or higher in climate science, food systems, agroecology, agricultural economics, agronomy, geography, law or public policy, or related field; or a bachelor’s degree with 5 years relevant work experience.

• Familiarity and experience with climate policy development and analysis, climate research and data analysis, and the application of scientific analyses to policy development.

• Experience engaging in the policy process at the federal, state, or local level.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to translate complex information, data, and technical details to a variety of audiences and partners.

• Exceptional initiative and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work independently and collaboratively, listen well, build trust, give and receive feedback, and model healthy conflict resolution.

• Strong project management skills; capable of planning, prioritizing, and troubleshooting efforts in an ongoing manner and working on variable, sometimes fast-paced project timelines.

• Ability to work effectively with, value differences of, and incorporate the experiences and policy impacts on diverse groups of individuals, including race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and socioeconomic circumstances.

• Enthusiasm for and experience in cultivating lasting relationships and accountable partnerships with a diverse body of stakeholders and decision makers.

• Willingness to travel domestically several times a year.

Additional Experience or Skills that Will Help You Excel

The following skills are not required, but are desired:

• Experience working in a Congressional office or with a federal agency.

• Experience with field-based or other research and data collection systems.

• Experience working on a farm or other food enterprise, or within an agricultural community.

• Experience with multi-organization grassroots coalitions, facilitation, and consensus building.

• Background with grassroots advocacy campaigns (e.g. field organizing, lobby days, etc).

• Bilingual fluency in a language other than English.

Salary and Benefits

NSAC offers a competitive non-profit salary, dependent on qualifications and experience, $72 - 90,000.

This position offers excellent benefits (as per the employee handbook), including generous vacation and other time-off policy, health, dental, and long-term disability insurance, contributions in a retirement plan, and financial support for professional and personal development.

Application Process
Communications are treated confidentially. Resume review begins immediately. No phone calls, please.

NSAC is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce and strongly encourages applications from groups that have been historically under-represented, including but not limited to women and people of color. Please also see NSAC’s Statement on Racial Equity. NSAC makes hiring decisions without regard to gender, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-Verify.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Deadline to apply is Sunday, April 28th.