Kitchen Table Advisors

Kitchen Table Advisors (KTA) works with under-resourced farmers and ranchers to fuel their long-term success and transform the food system. We cultivate trusted relationships, provide practical business advising, and build opportunities for equitable access to land, capital, and markets. Our vision is that sustainable farmers and ranchers are thriving and valued as leaders of vibrant, community-based food systems rooted in equitable distribution of power and resources. Kitchen Table Advisors’ work aims to both directly support farmers and ranchers, as well as shift the ecosystem in which they operate, to be more supportive of their agricultural practices and their lived experiences. We focus our efforts on land, markets and capital, which we see as key levers of change as small sustainable farms and ranches strive towards long-term economic viability.

Job Title: Farm Business Advisor

Classification: Exempt, Full-Time

Salary Range: $70,000 - $90,000

Work Location:

Three separate roles, each serving a different region:

  1. Sonoma County
  2. Solano/Sacramento Counties
  3. Santa Cruz/Monterey Counties

These roles are hybrid with frequent in-person meetings throughout the region served. Central Coast staff are expected to work from our Salinas office at least twice per week. For these reasons, applicants must be located in or willing to relocate to the region served by the position.

Total Rewards Include: Professional development stipend, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and employer-matched 401k. Flexible working schedule, generous vacation, and leave policies.

Post Date: 4/1/25

First Review Date: 4/21/25

Job Overview

Farm Business Advisors play a central role in delivering Kitchen Table Advisors' program services throughout our programmatic regions. Business Advisors provide in-depth 1:1 business advising to underresourced farmers and ranchers in Northern and Central California in order to fuel their long-term success and transform the food system. Business advisors cultivate trusted relationships, provide practical business advising, and collaborate across and outside of the organization to build opportunities for equitable access to land, capital, and markets. They will live our organizational values of equity, empathy, transformational leadership, ecological responsibility, and resilience.

Kitchen Table Advisors is looking for three new business advisors, each one serving a different region. Each business advisor will be part of a broader team of business advisors and will report to a Regional Program Director.

This is an exciting opportunity for three individuals with entrepreneurial and lived experience as well as language fluency in Spanish, Hmong, Iu-Mienh, or Thai, to put their skills to use in service of farmers.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of this role include:

  1. 1-on-1 Business Advising with Farmers and Ranchers (60%)
    • Build trust-based relationships with farmer/rancher clients
      1. Directly manage a portfolio of active and alumni clients
      2. Participate in ongoing client lifecycle beginning with recruitment, supporting clients through inflection points, including the possibility of farm transitions/exits
    • Advise clients in the following areas in order to enable them to make sound business decisions:
      1. Business planning
      2. Markets and marketing
      3. Financial management
        1. Record-keeping systems
        2. Cash flow projections and budgeting
      4. Developing a crop plan
      5. Access to capital and land
      6. Organizational management
    • Connect clients to the tools, knowledge, skills, and resources they need to build resilient and viable businesses.
    • Proactively leverage the expertise of other KTA team members in order to assist clients
    • Lend expertise to other Business Advisors as necessary to support their clients
  2. Program, Regional, and Team Responsibilities (30%)
    • Participate in regional partnerships with nonprofits, farm technical assistance providers, and others to provide support to clients
    • Maintain professional and positive relationships with partners for the benefit of clients and the organization
    • Report to and collaborate with your Regional Program Director, ensuring alignment with regional and organizational goals
    • Actively participate in regular team meetings and 1:1 check ins
    • Participate in a regular reflection and feedback process with your Regional Program Director
    • Create an annual work plan based on organizational and professional goals that you hold yourself accountable to and communicate progress with your team
    • Support or participate in Program activities, including: client gatherings, client communication, client recruitment, client training spaces, etc.
    • Collaborate with Operations team to capture and manage client data in Salesforce in a timely manner, and to provide ongoing system design feedback
    • Provide input on program goals in order to inform the development of program strategy by program leadership
    • Collaborate with Development and Communications teams to support activities as necessary, including but not limited to coordinating farm tours, photo/storytelling opportunities, sharing client stories for grants and communications, etc.
    • Support regional ecosystem efforts as needed
    • Participate in conferences as identified by manager: represent KTA, engage in networking, build relationships, identify new resources, and/or actively participate as part of the event.
  3. Organizational Resilience and Shared Leadership (10%)
    • Participate in shared leadership activities including team meeting facilitation, note taking, etc.
    • Participate in interview processes for new team members as needed.
    • Perform regular administrative tasks in a timely manner, including time sheets, expense reports, meeting scheduling, etc.

Ideal Candidate

You have superb interpersonal and communication skills, and lived experience to meet our farm and ranch clients where they are and help fuel their economic viability. You are an inspiring leader and ambassador, while also possessing the ability to coach and help lead the organization in a way that fosters creativity, teamwork, a commitment to excellence, and mutual respect. You have a reputation for honesty, fairness, and high ethical standards in all aspects of professional work. You bring strong financial planning, analytical, and communication skills to the work.

You are a skilled and trusted colleague, coach, mentor, and advisor who understands the big picture and enjoys supporting and building strong relationships with farmers and ranchers. You thrive when working in collaboration and partnership across departments, and are also content working independently to drive projects forward. You excel at advising clients with diverse backgrounds on how to define and achieve their goals, drawing on your skills as an excellent listener and advisor. You bring experience working in, or closely with, business and financial management. You work well in an environment in which new processes are an opportunity that excites you, and you are comfortable with learning and training.

You have high integrity and ethics, emotional intelligence, and organizational drive, and thrive when collaborating with a team of like-minded, dedicated professionals who come to work every day ready to deepen our impact in the world. You bring to the organization an awesome attitude, positive vibe, good cheer, and a great sense of humor. You care about equity, our planet and our future and you want to work in an environment that inspires you and others to action every day.

Ideal candidates will reside in Sonoma, Solano, Sacramento, Santa Cruz or Monterey County, as this is where the Business Advisors’ clients will be concentrated. See required corresponding language requirements below.

Qualifications

We recognize that each applicant will bring unique skills, knowledge, experiences, and background to this position. We welcome diverse experiences and perspectives in our applicant pool, and will be looking for candidates who possess many, but not necessarily all, of the following qualifications and experience.

  • 5+ years experience running a small business or providing coaching, consulting or technical assistance to small business owners, preferably food or farm businesses
  • 2+ years of on the ground experience on a farm as a farm business owner or farm worker
  • 2+ years hands-on experience with business and financial analysis, practical business planning, and financial management and decision making
  • General understanding of both direct to consumer (e.g. CSA, farmers' markets) and wholesale market channels (e.g. grocery stores, restaurants, distributors)
  • Understanding of, or ability to quickly learn, landscape of networks and relationships with sustainable farms, food businesses, nonprofit partners, etc. in Northern California
  • High emotional intelligence: able to navigate delicate situations/relationships with grace, take responsibility for actions, and adapt to others who have different backgrounds and experiences, learn from mistakes, etc.
  • Ability to stay organized, move multiple projects and priorities forward simultaneously, and reprioritize as needed
  • Demonstrated passion for sustainable food and farms
  • Access to a vehicle and ability to drive within a multi-county region for business advising sessions, in addition to outside of the region for team events and conferences
  • Ability to work nights and weekends, on occasion, as needed for events
  • The following language skills for the corresponding roles are:
    • Sonoma County - English/Spanish bilingual ability required
    • Solano/Sacramento Counties - English/Spanish, Hmong, Iu-Mienh or Thai bilingual ability preferred (any of those languages listed)
    • Santa Cruz/Monterey Counties - English/Spanish bilingual ability required

Travel and Schedule Considerations

  • Due to the nature of the work, candidates must possess a valid driver’s license, with access to a vehicle, for periodic travel throughout Northern & Central California to meet with clients, other business advisors, partners, and regional visits.
  • There will be occasional work responsibilities that occur during the evenings and/or weekends.

Kitchen Table Advisors celebrates diversity and is committed to building teams and partnerships that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Kitchen Table Advisors is also committed to providing an environment of mutual respect that is free from discrimination and harassment. Kitchen Table Advisors prohibits discrimination in its governance, programs and activities on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ancestry, national origin, age (40 and over), disability (mental and physical), medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or for any other non-merit based factor.


If you require a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please contact peopleandculture (at) kitchentableadvisors.org with the subject line “Accommodation Request”.

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