Engaging Food and Farming Industry Advisor - 28727

We’re committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve, so welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds.

We are looking for a motivated person with experience of working with the food and farming sector to create a healthy environment and help increase their future sustainability and resilience. 

The food system has a significant impact on the environment, in turn these impacts put our food system at risk. Government has set out their intensions e.g., The Agricultural Transition Plan, Environmental Land Management incentives, and Food Strategy. Parts of the agri-food sector have set out their commitments in for example, WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment 2030, through farm assurance schemes, brand initiatives or through supply chain contracts. Significant challenges remain to reduce pollution from farms and increase compliance and outcomes. 

You will build on positive work that has begun through: 

Supporting the Engaging Agri-Food Industry workstream, a priority within the Future Agriculture work programme, and engaging within our business; 

Building new and positive relations with the agri-food sector, including food brands, retail and farm assurance.  Working with them to improve their market led farming environmental standards, assess eligibility for earned recognition, raise awareness of issues within their supply chains, review their assurance schemes, and develop collaborative agreements; 

Working with Defra to improve future approaches to regulation, seek innovative solutions and support their adoption through grants and incentives;  

Working with internal specialists to produce evidence and data, enable collaborative data sharing and test and develop new approaches to regulation such as the use of earned recognition to reward the highest environmental performers.

You’ll have an inclusive incident management objective in your development plan, so we’ll support you to find an incident role to suit your needs and circumstances. Appropriate training will be given.

We engage external organisations along the agri-food supply chain to improve farming standards to reduce environmental pollution, increase compliance, and environmental outcomes. We sit within the Future Agriculture Team, within the national Agriculture team.

We work hard to develop relationships in the team and have effective virtual communication to stay connected and reduce travel, but some travel may be required. In E&B we promote a positive, inclusive and supportive culture where everyone feels valued.

You will be politically astute with excellent communication and networking skills that enable you to engage people - You will motivate them to act and to resolve conflicts and challenges in a way that promotes and enhances the Environment Agency’s goals and reputation. You will be able to evaluate data, prepare evidence reports and promote these to support all our work. You will have: 

- Excellent interpersonal and team-working skills. 
- A customer focussed approach. 
- A proactive, self-motivated attitude that delivers quality outcomes.  
- Innovative thinking in how to manage risk and design and deliver change efficiently.  
- Experience of the agricultural or food and drink sectors, preferably food brands
- Knowledge of agriculture environment regulations and best practice

You will develop your knowledge and skills as you are inducted to the role. Your learning will be done through a mixture of mentoring, attending courses and self-learning.

The team are dispersed, working flexibly at home and in offices. Some travel and overnight stays may be required.
For more information about working for us, who to contact regarding these roles and how to apply please read the Candidate Pack and Additional Information Pack.

If you have any queries, or want to discuss the role, working patterns, base locations etc, please contact Caitlin.burns@environment-agency.gov.uk, Engaging Agri-Food Industry team Leader.

Applications will be “blind” assessed using your answers to the competency questions.

Interviews will be held using MS Teams during April 2024

If you consent to be recruited onto a reserve list, we’ll hold your details for 6 months and we may offer you an alternative post.

Presenting a case in a convincing and attractive way that will win people over, encouraging them to follow plans willingly; often succeeding where logic and reason alone would fail.

Tell us about a time when you have influenced an organisation in the food or farming industry, to make changes to benefit the environment, and how you did it?

Sets and delivers high work standards, demonstrates the drive to meet targets. Prioritises and organises tasks and resources to ensure timely achievement of results.

Tell us about a significant achievement you accomplished and how you did it?

Develops and maintains effective working relationships.

Give an example of how you have built and sustained an important working partnership with an external organisation, in the food or farming industry?