County Farming Adviser - Essex (East Region)

Job Title: County Farming Adviser – Essex (East Region)

Salary: c. £40k (Dependant on Skills and Experience) plus company car or car allowance

Location: Home based, covering Essex within the East region

Working Hours: 35 hours per week 

Contract Type: Permanent

In this varied role, we are looking for an individual with a passion for helping our member businesses where no two days are the same. Responsible for a county with highly productive land, producing a range of food and environmental goods from wheat, potatoes, and borage through to strawberries, sunflowers, and livestock. You will engage with members to support in their business decisions.

Purpose of the role & how you will contribute

Leading a team of NFU Group Secretaries (who also have a role with the NFU Mutual as an insurance agent), you’ll support local farmers, growers and food producers by managing 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. 

You will lead all NFU activities in your county, supporting 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 member engagement activities. 

As an influential local voice for the NFU, you’ll promote our work, to our members and liaise regularly with regional colleagues and HQ colleagues to advise and campaign on a range of regional and local matters, including farming, food, rural matters and the environment. You will build a strong network of local stakeholders, media and political contacts across your county and oversee local NFU lobbying. You will support the work of the NFU across the region by taking the regional lead on certain aspects.

What you’ll bring: 

You will have strong knowledge and experience of farming businesses, in agricultural, supply chain or other rural professional roles. 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 throughout your allocated county and region.

Please note that this role is known as a County Adviser – East (Essex) within the NFU.

Why choose 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 up to 5 days 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

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. 

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. 

We are the face of the NFU to local 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. 

Join us

We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly-talented workforce. 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 agile 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.