Working Lands Climate Corps Member

Overview:

Glynwood’s Working Lands Climate Corp (WLCC) member will gain skills needed to contribute effectively to the climate crisis through hands-on experience and training at a nonprofit organization dedicated to equitable, sustainable, food system change, located in the Hudson Valley of New York. By actively participating in delivering a USDA-funded Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities project, the WLCC member will play a critical role in addressing challenges in the Hudson Valley agricultural community. The WLCC member will distribute farmer surveys, conduct data collection, manage data storage, and support outreach events for farmers. The WLCC member will be fully supported by Glynwood’s program director and the Climate-Smart project lead to provide the one-to-one administrative support for farmers required to make the project successful.

The WLCC member’s activities will include:

• Assisting in the explanation of the program’s multi-step application process to farmers
• Offering administrative and logistical support to farmers working with technical assistance and quantification support providers
• Contributing to the development of case studies of climate-smart conservation practice implementation by project farmers
• Collaborating with Cornell Cooperative Extension to coordinate and support the new Hudson Valley Climate Smart Coalition
• Participating in community-based project assessment

Work Hours:

• The WLCC position is a twelve-month position with an anticipated start date of October 31, 2024.
• Standard weekly work hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm with a one hour lunch break.
• Some nights and weekend hours will be required. Total hours will not exceed 35 hours weekly.

Work Location:

• This position will be based at Glynwood’s campus in Cold Spring, NY.
• The WLCC member will be provided adequate office space and has the option to execute the position in a hybrid role with some work performed remotely.
• The position requires frequent travel to farms across the Hudson Valley. Glynwood’s company car may be used for this purpose.

Compensation: $34,000 stipend for 1,700 hours work over 12 months

Learning Goals

• Develop core competencies for working in a professional environment
• Attain working fluency in NRCS recognized climate-smart agricultural practices such as: Reduced Till, Cover Crop, No-Till, Nutrient Management, Prescribed Grazing, Forage/Biomass Planting, Tree/Shrub Planting, Silvopasture, and Hedgerow Planting
• Learn the fundamentals of soil sampling and interpretation of test results
• Gain insight into farm practices, opportunities, and challenges of small-scale and new farmers in the Hudson Valley
• Develop strategies for communicating with, and organizing, farmers
• Understand basic data management
• Understand issues related to Anti-Racism in Agro-Food Systems
• Glynwood’s WLCC member will also participate in a suite of learning opportunities offered through our Hudson Valley Apprenticeship (HVA) program, including classroom and field-based lessons in partnership with the Mid-Hudson Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT). Topics covered through the HVA include: Cover Cropping, Holistic Visioning, Crop Rotations and Succession Planning, Soil Science, and Soil Testing. The 2024 CRAFT schedule includes fifteen learning opportunities on local farms, the WLCC member will be expected to attend at least five of these, of their choosing.

Essential Job Duties

Outreach and Education:

• Planning and promotion of two field-days in collaboration with regional partners to demonstrate on-farm climate-smart practices
• Scheduling and preparing training materials for farmer onboarding meetings to support farmer enrollment
• Developing promotional materials to recruit farmers
• Attending at least five regional, farmer-focused events to distribute informational materials
• Supporting outreach to farmers who speak languages other than English, by working closely with partners at the Hudson Valley Language Justice Collective
• Writing at least three blog posts for Glynwood’s newsletter about climate-smart agricultural practice implementation by Hudson Valley farmers
• Conservation Technical Assistance:
• Distributing surveys to farmers interested in participation in the program to collect the information required by the USDA for enrollment
• Properly collecting and storing survey data
• Supporting farms’ acquisition of Subsidiary Prints from the USDA Farm Service Agency;
• Tracking and aiding farmers through the multi-step enrollment process
• Facilitating on-farm data collection required for initiation of technical assistance
• Scheduling and attending field visits led by the project lead to support the implementation of NRCS approved climate-smart practice

Required Education and Experience

• High School Diploma or GED
• Demonstrated ability to maintain and organize documents digitally
• Basic use of Google and Microsoft applications for emailing, creating, and sharing documents including spreadsheets, and calendaring
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

Preferred Education and Experience

• Community organizing experience or participation
• Experience working or volunteering on a farm
• Comfort with simple graphic design platforms (ie. Canva)
• Creation of materials for social media platforms (ie. Instagram)
• Proficiency in a language other than English (especially Spanish)

Additional Requirements

• Affinity for Glynwood’s mission
• Provable eligibility to work in the US
• Drivers License in good standing

Work Environment

This is primarily an office-based position, routinely using standard office equipment. Frequently, the position requires fieldwork and travel to visit farms and other sites, and to facilitate on-site and off-site events in varied indoor and outdoor settings.

Physical Demands

This role requires the ability to maneuver in an office setting which may include lifting files and sitting, bending or standing as necessary. Events and travel may require more physical tasks such as carrying, moving supplies, standing or walking outdoors in a range of field conditions. Every reasonable accommodation will be made to enable a qualified candidate to perform tasks necessary to the job.

Travel and Weekend Work

Frequent day trips for off site meetings/functions. Frequent evening hours and occasional weekend hours are needed to attend training opportunities and to support program events.

About Glynwood

Glynwood cultivates just and resilient regional food systems so that farmers, land, and communities thrive. We do this by training farmers, building markets and movements, and increasing access to local food for every table.

As an organization, we believe that Glynwood has a role to play in addressing racism and inequity in our country’s food system, and commit ourselves to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in our organization, and in all of our work. We are committed to proactive learning, orienting ourselves towards healing racism and oppression, and expanding spaces for those who have not been historically included.

Glynwood’s offices are located at 362 Glynwood Rd. in Cold Spring, NY 10516.