Assistant Project Officer: Sustainable Farming

As part of an expanding programme of work with the Farming sector, The River Thame Conservation Trust is seeking to recruit two posts. Both roles provide a fantastic career development opportunity, working at the vanguard of landscape scale nature recovery and new markets in ecosystem services. As part of a dynamic, delivery-focused organisation, the Trust will nurture the growth of your skills and capabilities, with a view to their long-term contribution to our success.

Assistant Project Officer: Sustainable Farming
Location: Office base in Wheatley (Oxford), with fieldwork throughout the Thame Catchment
Working Days: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Length of Contract: 3 years (with an aspiration to convert to open-ended, subject to organisational needs, and future funding).
Salary: £26-30K depending on skills and experience
Place of Work: Hybrid working, office based at Wheatley, (Oxford) with regular travel throughout the catchment and some home working.

This is an entry level agriculture and environment role which will support the delivery of our programme to promote and enable environmentally Sustainable Farming practices in the Thame catchment, and will be integral to the Trust’s activities. The programme comprises several projects, covering agri-ecological and sustainable water management systems on farms restoring natural capital using nature-based solutions. The programme will work with partners to promote sustainable food goals and achieve greater visibility of local supply chains, in-turn facilitating private and public investment to support this.

You will support the further development of an existing catchment-focused, farm cluster and will deliver three main areas of work, under the guidance of the Programme Manager:

1. Designing, planning and delivering a programme to grow, understanding and confidence of the cluster and its members in navigating new challenges and opportunities for economically and environmentally thriving agriculture.
2. Talking to farmers to understand aspirations for their farm businesses, and how these might be achieved, recognising the range of existing and emerging opportunities
3. Undertaking farm visits to identify and map potential opportunities to achieve farmer aspirations and project goals.

The role requires a professional, persuasive, and engaging individual with a familiarity with current agricultural policy, and interest in farming and sustainable food systems. You should have a passion and enthusiasm for the conservation sector, particularly for regenerative / agri-ecological and sustainable agriculture and will be expected to keep up-to-date with the latest sector developments.