Position Summary and Objective
Coalfield Development’s Agriculture Program, Refresh Appalachia, is focused on developing, shaping, and supporting the regenerative and sustainable agriculture sector in Central Appalachia. We do this through various initiatives and projects.
This position would be focused on supporting the Food Hub aspect of our work which primarily functions under a collaborative project called the Supporting Appalachia Initiative. This initiative was started as the Central Appalachian Food Enterprise Corridor and involves multiple partners across Central Appalachia that work to help local agriculture businesses access more markets and expand their operations. In addition, this collaborative works to solve complex food systems problems, leverage investment for local agriculture and develop new relationships. This position would be responsible for facilitating the sale of local agricultural products to a variety of established and new market channels, some including small retail stores, school systems, prisons, and hospitals. This position will help shape a healthy sustainable local food system by working with local farmers and producers to increase their revenue streams.
Essential Functions
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.
Sales and Procurement:
- Expand and maintain the customer base in the Supporting Appalachia region.
- Identify potential clients through cold calling, marketing outreach, and direct sales across various channels (e.g., school cafeterias, hospitals, restaurants, retail markets, grocery stores).
- Engage with customers to understand their needs, build strong relationships, and secure long-term commitments.
- Educate customers on the benefits of choosing locally and regionally sourced products.
- Resolve customer issues by offering tailored solutions with the support of partner teams.
- Keep customer records updated, track sales trends, and identify product opportunities.
- Stay updated on product and service changes and monitor market trends.
- Collaborate with team members and partners, providing reports on customer needs, leads, and competitive activities.
- Use logistics tools to develop market clusters and explore new opportunities in the region.
- Manage product quality, pricing, and reputation consistently.
- Negotiate pricing arrangements, including payment terms, incentives, and discounts.
- Monitor and assess supplier performance using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and regular evaluations.
- Identify and mitigate risks in supplier operations that could affect the organization’s performance or reputation.
- Work with the Farm to Institution Coordinator to boost institutional sales.
Logistics:
- Identify new market outlets for farmers and develop resources for market expansion.
- Network with food system professionals to enhance small farms’ access to distribution systems in Central Appalachia, in collaboration with Supporting Appalachia partners.
- Collaborate with the Senior Director of Agriculture to provide expertise on developing aggregation and distribution hubs in the region.
- Connect farm businesses to Business Builder Grants under the USDA RFBC project, working closely with Coalfield’s Regional Food Coordinator.
- Partner with various stakeholders to offer insight and technical assistance on sales, marketing, and logistics.
General Administrative:
- Regular attendance is an essential function for all employees. We depend on our employees to show up, begin work and end work at the time their schedule indicates and whenever scheduled to work, aside from extenuating circumstances.
- Legally and safely drive a vehicle.
- Provides constructive and timely performance management reviews and check-ins.
- Enforces organizational policies and procedures.
- Collaborate with the Senior Director of Agriculture to create annual work plans that align with Coalfield’s mission and goals.
- Assist with monitoring programs to ensure compliance, track progress, and adhere to work plans and budgets.
- Support program planning and reporting to enhance regional agriculture efforts.
- Increase awareness and engagement by attending events and meetings related to our mission.
- Ensure compliance with Department of Transportation and state food safety regulations.
- Work with the Finance Team to ensure timely payment of invoices.
Competency – knowledge, skills, and abilities
- Excellent at time management, task prioritization, and organization
- Excellent verbal communication skills
- Be knowledgeable of product and company mission, vision, and goals
- Knowledge of agriculture
- Knowledge of sales platforms
- Experience in Vendor Relations
- Strong interpersonal skills to support working with a wide variety of buyers and partners
Supervisory responsibilities
This position will be responsible for supervising a delivery driver and any future drivers.
Work Location and Hours of Work
1040 Vernon Street, Huntington, WV 25704. This position has variable work hours throughout the week with most workdays being 8am to 5pm.
Environment Conditions, Physical Activity, Physical Demands
- Be able to work in various weather conditions outdoors with low winter temperatures to high summer temperatures.
- Some duties are performed in the warehouse and will require work to be done in varying climates. Temperatures range from zero in the coolers to 95 degrees Fahrenheit or above outdoors while on routes.
- Stand for extended periods.
- Lift and move cases (selecting product and placing on a pallet) ranging in weight up to 50 lbs continuously to and from heights ranging from floor to overhead.
Travel and Transportation Requirements
Candidates must provide reliable transportation to their primary work location. Coalfield has a limited fleet of vehicles and frequently carpools to minimize travel burdens on employees. Travel expenses (excluding commutes) may be reimbursed per Coalfield’s policies and procedures.
Required Experience and Education
- Hold a degree in Agriculture, Business, Sales, Marketing, and/or related field or have comparable experience.
- Proficient with computers, email, Microsoft applications, and messaging apps.
- Proficient with standard office equipment (phone system, copier/printer, scanners, etc.)
- Must have a valid driver’s license issued by a state authority.
- Experience with routing and route management as evidenced by recent work experience.
- Experience with operating delivery vehicles.
Preferred Experience and Education
- Some experience with food safety and safe food handling
- Experience coordinating and working on multiple projects at once.
- Experience with CDL required vehicles.
- Experience utilizing GIS.
EEO Statement
Coalfield Development Corporation provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
Other duties
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Background or drug test
Candidates for this position will be required to pass a drug test as a condition of employment. Candidates for this position will be required to have a background check as a condition of employment.
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