Specialty Crop Business Development Specialist Job Vacancy in Ravalli County Hamilton, MT 59840 – Latest Jobs in Hamilton, MT 59840

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Company Name : Ravalli County
Location : Hamilton, MT 59840
Position : Specialty Crop Business Development Specialist

Job Description : Position: Specialty Crop Business Development Specialist
Classification: Non-Exempt, Full-Time – Grant Funded Temporary Position for 36+ months

Reports to: RCEDA Executive Director

Posting Date: February 11, 2022
Application Deadline: February 28, 2022

Rate of Pay: $23 – $24/hour DOE

Position Schedule: Mon – Fri some flexibility
Benefit Eligible: Possible HSA, Holidays, vacation

RCEDA – The purpose of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority is to promote, stimulate, develop and advance the general welfare, commerce, economic development and prosperity of our local citizens, Ravalli County, and the State of Montana. A primary goal of the RCEDA is to create the infrastructure for a knowledge-based business community in the Bitterroot Valley that helps existing and new businesses turn information and innovation into opportunity.
Ravalli County Economic Development Authority (RCEDA) is a Port Authority with 501 (c) (3) tax status. Created by the Ravalli County Commissioners in 1997, RCEDA is governed by seven Commissioners appointed by the County Commissioners.
REC: The Ravalli Entrepreneurship Center is a 10,000 sq. ft. business incubator and commercial office space. This facility offers rental office and lab space to startup and pre-startup enterprises, providing administrative support and technical business services and is operated by the RCEDA.

RCEDA FADC: The RCEDA operates a fledgling Food & Agriculture Center in Ravalli County. Funding for the FADC is paid in part through grant funds from the Montana Department of Agriculture.

Background for the Specialty Crop Specialist Position: Agriculture is a key economic and social component to Ravalli County. Agriculture provides jobs, food, and the opportunity to preserve farmland and farming as a way of life. Many blossoming, successful efforts in agriculture now contain specialty crops and innovative value-added elements. Specialty crop growers and those that purchase specialty crops for a product would benefit from a micro-processing facility centrally located in the county. The key, for both growers and food product producers, is having the ability to make their product readily available in the form, price and quality that consumers expect.

Ravalli County has had support for growers of specialty crops, but it has not been a coordinated, continual, nor focused support. This is because support was provided from afar with no specific budget, metric or plan to serve Ravalli County growers on a comprehensive scale. Despite this, farmers of specialty crops in Ravalli County rank 8th in the state for production of vegetables, 2nd in the state for fruits and berries, and 3rd in the state for nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, sod. There are 177 beekeepers engaged in various bee and honey operations in the county.

The Montana Department of Agriculture provided an opportunity for FADCs to participate in the state’s federal USDA grant to support Specialty Crops. This position is funded for approximately thirty-eight months.

Job Summary:

This position is responsible for duties critical and essential to starting up and completing the goals and objectives of the grant proposal. The position will tackle four of the challenges identified by our local specialty crop growers. Some of the specialty crops grown by our producers are: apples and other fruit trees, lettuce, grapes, beets, cabbage, carrots, greens (mustard and chards) spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, tomato, turnip, radish, peppers, collards, berries (strawberries, raspberries, haskap berries (aka honey berries), herbs and spices, honey, and cut flowers.
The selected Specialist will provide consistent, readily available assistance to our specialty crop growers and will monitor for results and gather information from our growers. Because there has never been a dedicated support system such as a business incubator for specialty crop growers in Ravalli County, there are no base line numbers. Metrics to estimate performance measures have been generated by telephone interviews with farms and producers, the USDA 2017 Agriculture Census, Montana Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, local news, interviews conducted in 2020 to learn about disruptions caused by the pandemic, and local housing and land data.

The four challenges the Specialty Crop Business Development Specialist will focus on for producers are:

Providing marketing assistance to specialty crop growers to increase their competitiveness and profit margins. This will include collecting baseline, specific market data for each crop and other analysis on labor, wages, financial health, expenses and profit margin detail that is not currently available on local area specialty crops market; the information gathered will be used to implement activities #2 and #3 as well.

Planning and financial packaging to include proposal writing for the remaining funds to develop and construct a micro-processing center in Hamilton.

Intentional and strong connection of local (and other) specialty crop growers to the area’s economy and businesses, and with one another.

Collaborative marketing, worker cooperatives, bulk buying of supplies: all are opportunities to increase competitiveness, increase profitability, and farm resiliency. As a volunteer effort these opportunities fail. Facilitated by staff these opportunities can succeed.

The goals for Ravalli County in supporting specialty crop producers are:

Focus stronger economic development support in the specialty crop food and agriculture sector.
Provide access to education on food business and entrepreneurship. More support is needed to get producers to take advantage of training that exists.
Provide the infrastructure that specialty crop producers need, like the micro-processing facility
Develop marketing and branding to connect the producers with the businesses and the economy (consumers, School Lunch and other institutions, retail, and wholesale).
Increase wages for workers and owners in specialty crop production.
Develop and maintain analytics that will provide strategic insight, with a consistent format that allows answers this industry needs to make decisions based on their facts, for their benefit.
Assist new beginning farmers with start-up business help and potentially pairing them with opportunities to take over operations from producers that wish to exit.
Assist exit strategy to transfer intellectual and physical capital to a new owner.

The position requires the ability to be flexible with the work day they may have planned. Must be able to cheerfully adjust to a necessary, and immediate change in their day. Must have excellent interpersonal skills, project coordination experience, and the ability to work well with the RCEDA Board, tenants, and clients. The Specialist will need to cultivate professional and productive relationships with local, state, and national government agencies, civic organizations and, most importantly, area agriculture businesses and farms. This job requires strong communications, organizational, financial and budgeting, writing, computer and internet skills.

There is a plan to make this position permanent and a funding strategy for that exists. It will be the job of the Specialty Crop Business Development Specialist to follow and implement that plan.

It is essential for this position to be open-minded and flexible with regard to work to be performed. This position will require a great amount of self-motivation and self-directedness. Must be able to perform under moderate to high pressure. A high level of organizational skill is necessary.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Travel Required:

Farm visits, meetings, and other travel as necessary.

Duties/Responsibilities:

Implement the goals of the grant proposal for Specialty Crop Business Development in Ravalli County. Prepare a detailed timeline for this success.
Communicate in detail with the Executive Director on a daily basis.
Grant Management. Manage and maintain grant budget. Prepare draft drawdown requests and reports for the grant that has been funded.
Understand and provide necessary alerts to cash flow or budget issues that need attention.
Assist the ED and EDS to prepare the annual budget.
Help develop, plan and coordinate agency funded development activities and special events.
Practice positive teamwork (i.e. practices collaboration and open communication; embraces diversity; is open to change and continuous improvement; encourages and empowers others to achieve).

Required Skills/Abilities with Agriculture Business Emphasis:
Advanced Computer proficiency in Microsoft products, such as Word, Power Point, Access and Excel, Outlook, as well as Adobe or other graphic design and layout programs.
Advanced internet research skills preferred, i.e. ability to do internet searches, data mining, and find and use relevant references and statistical information
Experience in business development, or economics, and with an agricultural emphasis.
Experience with small business development. e.g. business plans, operations, finances, marketing, etc.
Grant writing.

Preferred Knowledge and Skills with Agriculture Business Emphasis:

Experience with proposal writing and grants administration.
Advanced internet research skills preferred, i.e. ability to do internet searches, data mining, and find and use relevant references and statistical information
Five years’ experience in business development, or economics, and with an agricultural emphasis.
Experience with small business development capital formation, budgeting, projections, financial analysis

Required Education and Experience:

Agriculture business development.
High School diploma or equivalent.

Work Environment:

Office environment.
Dress is business casual.
Applicants must have the ability to work flexible hours.
Flexible schedule to include evenings and rarely over 40 hours per week.
Physical Requirements:
Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Affirmative Action/EEO Statement

Ravalli County Economic Development Authority is an equal employment opportunity employer (EEO). RCEDA does not refuse employment or discriminate in compensation or the other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment based upon race, color, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, pregnancy, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, political beliefs, genetic information, or veteran’s status.

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

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