Company description

Kitchen Table Advisors (KTA) partners with under-resourced farmers and ranchers across Northern and Central California. We support them in building thriving businesses and more equitable food systems. Through long-term, bilingual 1:1 Business Advising, we help producers strengthen the financial and business skills they need to achieve their goals. At the same time, our Ecosystem Building work addresses the barriers around them by expanding equitable access to land, capital, markets, and leadership opportunities. We envision a world where under-resourced owners of sustainable farms and ranches are thriving within equitable, community-based food systems.

Job description

Job Overview

Farm Business Advisors provide in-depth 1:1 business advising to under-resourced farmers and ranchers in Northern and Central California in order to fuel their long-term success and transform the food system. Farm BA’s cultivate trusted relationships, provide practical business advising, and collaborate across and outside of the organization to build opportunities for equitable access to land, capital, and markets. They live organizational values of equity, empathy, transformational leadership, ecological responsibility, and resilience; and they share leadership in shaping our future, through measuring impact, storytelling and organizational development.

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual with entrepreneurial and lived experience as well as language fluency in Spanish to put their skills to use in service of farmers.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of this role include:

1. 1-on-1 Business Advising with Farmers and Ranchers (60%)
   • Build trust-based relationships with farmer/rancher clients:
     1. Directly manage a portfolio of active and alumni clients;
     2. Participate in ongoing client lifecycle beginning with recruitment, supporting clients through inflection points, including the possibility of farm transitions/exits;
   • Advise clients in the following areas in order to enable them to make sound business decisions:
     1. Business planning;
     2. Markets and marketing;
     3. Financial management:
        1. Recordkeeping systems;
        2. Cash flow projections and budgeting;
     4. Developing a crop plan;
     5. Access to capital and land;
     6. Organizational management;
   • Connect clients to the tools, knowledge, skills, and resources they need to build resilient and viable businesses;
   • Proactively leverage the expertise of other KTA team members in order to assist clients;
   • Lend expertise to other Business Advisors as necessary to support their clients.
2. Program, Regional, and Team Responsibilities (30%)
   • Participate in regional partnerships with nonprofits, farm technical assistance providers, and others to provide support to clients;
   • Maintain professional and positive relationships with partners for the benefit of clients and the organization;
   • Report to and collaborate with the Regional Program Director, ensuring alignment with regional and organizational goals;
   • Actively participate in regular team meetings and 1:1 check ins;
   • Participate in a regular reflection and feedback process with the Regional Program Director;
   • Create an annual work plan based on organizational and professional goals that you hold yourself accountable to and communicate progress with your team.
   • Support or participate in Program activities, including: client gatherings, client communication, client recruitment, client training spaces, etc.;
   • Collaborate with the Operations team to capture and manage client data in Salesforce in a timely manner, and to provide ongoing system design feedback;
   • Provide input on program goals in order to inform the development of program strategy by program leadership;
   • Collaborate with Development and Communications teams to support activities as necessary, including but not limited to coordinating farm tours, photo/storytelling opportunities, sharing client stories for grants and communications, etc.;
   • Support regional ecosystem efforts as needed;
   • Participate in conferences as identified by manager: represent KTA, engage in networking, build relationships, identify new resources, and/or actively participate as part of the event;
3. Organizational Resilience and Shared Leadership (10%)
   • Participate in shared leadership activities including team meeting facilitation, note taking, etc.;
   • Participate in interview processes for new team members as needed;
   • Perform regular administrative tasks in a timely manner, including time sheets, expense reports, meeting scheduling, etc.
     

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience running a small business or providing coaching, consulting or technical assistance to small business owners, preferably food or farm businesses;
• 2+ years of on the ground experience on a farm as a farm business owner or farm worker;
• 2+ years hands-on experience with business and financial analysis, practical business planning, and financial management and decision making;
• General understanding of both direct to consumer (e.g. CSA, farmers' markets) and wholesale market channels (e.g. grocery stores, restaurants, distributors);
• Understanding of, or ability to quickly learn, landscape of networks and relationships with sustainable farms, food businesses, nonprofit partners, etc. in Northern California;
• High emotional intelligence: able to navigate delicate situations/relationships with grace, take responsibility for actions, and adapt to others who have different backgrounds and experiences, learn from mistakes, etc.;
• Ability to stay organized, move multiple projects and priorities forward simultaneously, and reprioritize as needed;
• Demonstrated passion for sustainable food and farms;
• Access to a vehicle and ability to drive within a multi-county region for business advising sessions, in addition to outside of the region for team events and conferences;
• Ability to work nights and weekends, on occasion, as needed for events;
• Bilingual English/Spanish required; native Spanish speaker highly preferred.

Travel and Schedule Considerations

• Due to the nature of the work, candidates must possess a valid driver’s license, with access to a vehicle, for periodic travel throughout Northern/Central California to meet with clients, other business advisors, partners, and regional visits.
• There will be occasional work responsibilities that occur during the evenings and/or weekends.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $75,000 - $100,000

Application instructions

If you are not registered, you'll be prompted to do so. Don't worry, it's free!

Deadline

no deadline