"Small Farms Extension & Research Associate 2 (English/Hmong Bilingual)"

The Small Farms Extension and Research Associate will assist UC ANR Small Farms Network academics and program staff in the delivery of technical assistance, training, outreach, and applied research activities to increase extension support for small-scale, diversified, and historically underserved farmers. Areas of focus include on-farm production challenges such as irrigation, nutrient management, and pest management; regulatory compliance; marketing and business support; and incentive program and grant application technical support.

Working under the general direction of a county-based Small Farms Advisor, the Associate assists UC ANR academics, staff, and collaborating growers with collection and analysis of data needed for grower surveys, applied research projects, program development and evaluation, and policy communications. The Associate will also provide expert, bilingual technical assistance in English and Hmong to small-scale farmers to enhance on-farm productivity, compliance with local, state, and federal regulatory programs, and access to resources such as grants, incentives programs, and emergency relief programs. The Associate will assist UC ANR academics in the extension of applied research results and the development, delivery, and evaluation of bilingual, culturally appropriate, research-based educational materials and extension programming to support small-scale, diversified, and historically underserved farmers. The Associate will develop and conduct effective methods to increase outreach and participate in program evaluation, needs assessments, and strategic planning for outreach and extension efforts in the assigned county or counties. Applied research duties include assisting with survey development and translation, recruitment of farmer participants, setup of field experiments, data collection and management, basic data analysis for outreach, educational programming, and research projects. Research, outreach, and extension efforts will also be coordinated with a statewide network of Small Farms Advisors and program staff in multiple counties. The Small Farms Network will work closely with partner agencies and non-profit organizations to coordinate and leverage statewide technical assistance efforts.

This position is a career appointment that is 100% fixed.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide growers with direct, one-on-one, bilingual technical assistance and extension support in bilingual English and Hmong. Conduct farm visits and meet with farmers individually to assist with production challenges, marketing, regulatory compliance, and access to grants, incentives, and economic relief programs. Assist farmers with online applications and collect data to identify barriers to access to programs.
• Assist with survey development and data collection for county-level and statewide needs assessments to inform strategic planning of outreach, training, and applied research efforts. Assist with translation and review of survey questions. Assist with recruitment of survey participants.
• Collect and organize evaluation data from participants at workshops and individual farm visits. Gather input from farmers and conduct basic analyses of data to inform program improvements.
• Organize and maintain electronic records such as farmer contact lists and coordinate bilingual outreach through radio, social media, newsletters, farm visits, and networking. Organize, promote, and assist with extension workshops on a range of research, extension, and technical assistance topics.
• Gather data to inform policy discussions, including feedback from partner organizations, and summarize results for policy communications. Develop and deliver presentations at meetings with nonprofit partner organizations, regulatory agencies, and policy makers to provide research-based information on the needs and challenges of small-scale farms and to develop new collaborations.
• Develop and design bilingual educational materials and deliver educational programming in bilingual English and Hmong to assist small-scale farmers in accessing markets and assistance programs, complying with regulations in areas such as food safety, labor, groundwater use, fertilizer use, pesticide use, and organic certification, and addressing crop production challenges through improved irrigation, nutrient management, pest management, and other production practices.
• Serve as a lead worker on multi-county outreach and technical assistance efforts where background and expertise are sufficient to serve as a subject matter expert for specific project topics.
• Collect soil, plant, insect, water, and other types of samples to assist with research and technical support activities.

Requirements: A minimum of a Bachelor's degree with coursework in the agricultural or social sciences relevant to agricultural extension, applied research, and community engagement and/or equivalent experience or training.