Farmland Information/Policy Specialist - American Farmland Trust

The Farmland Information and Policy Specialist will be responsible for conducting state and local policy research and expanding and maintaining an online collection of relevant laws, regulations and policies for AFT’s Farmland Information Center website (www.farmlandinfo.org). The Policy Specialist also will contribute to AFT’s state policy scorecard—a component of AFT’s Farms Under Threat initiative that ranks states’ efforts to protect agricultural land and support agricultural viability. The successful candidate will oversee surveys of state and local farmland protection activity and help respond to requests for information received through the FIC’s answer service. While the Policy Specialist may contribute to policy development the position does not involve direct advocacy. The Farmland Information and Policy Specialist will report to the Director of AFT’s Farmland Information Center and work in AFT’s office in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Managing the collections of laws, regulations, polices and sample documents on the FIC website. This will involve developing protocols for adding content, a schedule for checking and refreshing content, and plan for expanding collections with input from national and field directors to reflect all three parts of AFT’s mission;
• Reviewing and analyzing federal, state and local laws, regulations, policies and plans;
• Identifying factors across policies and programs that can highlight best practices and/or measure the effectiveness of the approach to support AFT’s state policy scorecard;
• Synthesizing complex information into clear summaries, policy briefs, professional reports and blogs;
• Assisting AFT’s national initiative and field directors in the development of policy recommendations;
• Responding to technical requests from external audiences and AFT staff;
• Tracking relevant state legislative activity;
• Developing a range of educational resources including fact sheets and technical memos;
• Managing consultants and/or interns hired to support the responsibilities listed above including maintenance of the FIC’s collection of laws, regulations, policies and sample documents;
• Assisting with fundraising; and
• Contributing to special projects on an as-needed basis.
• Other duties as assigned.

A full job description may be found here.