County Farming Adviser (Somerset)

Job Title: County Farming Adviser (Somerset)

Salary: c.£39k (Dependant on Skills and Experience) plus company car or car allowance

Location: Home Based, covering the Somerset County, within the South Region

Working Hours: 35 hours per week

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract up to 12 months (Maternity cover)

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is the biggest farming organisation in the UK. We're proud to make a difference for all our members, by shaping attitudes towards British farming and leading the charge on a range of major issues, from climate change and food standards to rural crime and broadband rollout.

Purpose of the role

Leading a team of NFU Group Secretaries, you’ll support local farmers, growers and food producers by managing all the NFU’s work in your allocated county. That means developing plans to recruit and retain members and ensuring their voice is heard by lobbying and influencing on their behalf with a range of stakeholders across the county.

Please note that this role is known as a County Adviser within the NFU.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll lead all NFU activities in your county, including developing a plan to recruit and retain members and managing the local NFU democratic structures. As the key local NFU representative, you’ll also lead the recruitment of local NFU Group Secretaries, manage their performance, supporting and advising them on all engagement activities. As an influential local voice for the NFU, you’ll promote our work, our members and liaise regularly with regional and HQ colleagues to advise and campaign on a range of national, regional and local matters, from farming, food and rural to the environment. You’ll also build a strong network of local business, media and political contacts across your county and oversee local NFU lobbying.

What you’ll bring

You’ll have strong knowledge and experience of farming businesses, maybe gained in agricultural, supply chain or environmental consultancy. As a proven adviser, you’ll be used to building and managing effective professional relationships and influencing and delivering agricultural or rural policy. This means you’ll need to be a persuasive communicator, with the ability to manage objections calmly and speak confidently to people at all levels, both in person and through the media. With experience of managing, recruiting and developing a remote team, you’ll be adept at thinking on your feet and evaluating complex issues effectively to reach the best decision. You’ll also need the flexibility to work irregular hours and drive extensively across your area.

Why join us?

Join us and you’ll find an organisation that encourages and enables you to achieve your full potential. In return you will be rewarded with a full range of benefits including:

• 
  Company car or car allowance
• Generous holiday allowance (starting at 25 days a year + Bank Holidays, rising to 30 days with length of service), plus 1 annual Christmas company day
• Option to buy and sell annual leave
• Company funded health Cashplan
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave
• Performance-related pay
• Competitive Pension and Life assurance
• Access to interest-free loans for cars, bikes, season tickets and driving lessons
• Employee Assistance program to help you deal with life’s challenges
• Discounts on new vehicles, holiday rentals, wellbeing and lifestyle and many more

Who we are

Every day, we're the voice of around 47,000 British farmers and growers who produce food, making sure their concerns are heard at the heart of government both online and locally. This means developing strong relationships with everyone from NFU colleagues to government ministers. So, as well as having a high profile in both the media and Westminster, we work with and support local members through a network of regional and county offices across England and Wales.

Our regional teams are the face of the NFU to local farming members. Our focus is to understand their day-to-day concerns and influence the local and national agendas on their behalf. It’s about developing strong working relationships with everyone from the members themselves to local councils, constituency MPs and national NFU teams.

Working in a regional team demands the flexibility to adapt to a variety of tasks, from recruiting and retaining members, to working with councils and other local agencies, or lobbying MPs. This diverse remit means we need to understand a wide range of farming, food, environmental and economic issues and be able to talk confidently about them with people at all levels.

Join us

We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly talented workforce. Join us and you’ll find an organisation that encourages and enables you to achieve your full potential. We’ll support you by providing you with extensive learning and development opportunities and build a career that balances your professional ambitions with your personal commitments including discussions around hybrid and flexible work options.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If we decide we've found the right person for the role, we reserve the right to withdraw this advert and close applications before the closing date.