Area Farm Management Advisor for southern California with emphasis in Risk and Financial Management
Position Description:
General Disciplinary Focus:The advisor will be responsible for designing and implementing educational applied researchprograms in agricultural economics in Farm management with emphasis in financial and riskmanagement. Purposes are to conduct research and education for enabling growers to produce and market profitably and to have economically sustainable farm businesses in crop production. Primaryprogram counties include Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo,San Bernardino and Ventura counties; also covers the limited agricultural crop productionin Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Education and Professional background requirements: Educational background and experience for thisposition will include Production economics/Farm Management with emphasis in financialand risk management.
Supporting Units: The position is strongly supported by the multi-county CDs in southern California (based on last year survey), subtropical horticulture workgroup (contact Ben Faber); and the Agricultural Production Management Systems Team (contact Ramiro Lobo) and the Small Farm Center.
Justification: The advisor in this position would use farm management and risk managementeconomicsin helping maintain healthy and sustainable farms and crop producers. The sustainability and security of food depends on the viability and sustainability of agricultural producers and the contribution of agriculture to the economy. There are over 27, 000 farmsproducing over 200 crops with value exceeding $5billion in southern California. These producers and industries are constantly faced with increasing costs of production, the risk of declining product value due to expanded world market and the introduction of invasive pests.In order to keep their viability and sustainability they need to have benchmark production cost information about crops and learn about risk management tools. Currently, the clientele needs is being met by only 0.25 FTE. This is a reduction in FTE by 0.75 FTE from 2007. In addition, the expertise we had in risk management at the state wide level is vacated by Steve Blank from UCD. This proposal requests a filling of a position as an area farm advisor level than statewide level. Filling the position at a farm advisor level will put the person in direct contact with clientele. The critical mass is at the county level.
The advisor would be a key player within teams of scientistsevaluating the financial feasibility and sustainability of commercial and specialty cropproductivity and improving technologies including pest management, irrigation management,etc. ANR’s investment in this position would lead to addressing multiple ANR’s strategic initiatives including to enhance competitive, sustainable food systems;enhance the health ofCalifornia’s and California’s agricultural economy and ensure safe and secure food Supplies.Related to those initiatives are also included the cost and affordability of water i.e security of water foragricultural production and the sustainability and cost of managing Endemic and Invasive Pests and Disease and protectingagricultural production.
Extension: The audience for this position includes agricultural producers and workers in ~27,000 farms andagricultural institutions in the southern California and statewide policy makers. This positionwill provide education and information as well as create a strategic connection among theinterest groups including advisors, specialists and faculty, organizations and agency researchers,and governmental entities on issues and policies related to economic feasibility of agriculturalenterprises in particular dealing with risk and financial management.The person would disseminate information through local meetings and through larger industrysponsored and workgroup organized UC meetings. Results of research would be published inscientific farm management journals, extension bulletins, popular journals, local newsletters andon the internet. Also, the person would be expected to develop an effective method of extendinginformation on the web to a larger and broader audience
Research: The advisor in this position would be expected to work closely with the many industries in crop production, local growers and members of workgroups to identify research areas of highest priority such as developing and analyzing risk management tools including crop insurance, forward marketing and hedging. The person would addresses emerging production economic issuesincluding cost-income and feasibility analyses for selecting profitable enterprises, forintroducing new and high value specialty crops, and for analyzing the cost-benefit of newproduction improving strategies/innovations. The advisor will also be involved in evaluating the economics of the risk of invasive pests. This advisor can be a part of the current concern we have in the Asian Citrus Psyilld pest and disease preventive team. Economic analyses of risk management alternatives are keys for growers to combat the pest and disease issues and keep their viability and sustainability. Economic studies and analyses are also used by government agencies for policy making and decisions as they impact growers and agricultural industries. Also, the advisor willdevelop programs and tools by which growers and the agricultural industries can evaluatetheir financial and risk management strategies.
ANR Continuum: Supportive network of researchers, CE Specialists and Farm Advisors arealready in place in crop production including commodity advisors in the various counties, afarm management specialist in economics Davis, and 0.25 FTE farm management advisors in the southernCalifornia region. The proposed position would fill a very substantial gap that exists in the countiesto address farmmanagement, risk management and financial management critical issues. It is expected that the advisor in this position will play a significantleadership role particularly in risk and financial management where we do have very littleresources both at the state and county level at the present time.
Support: Riverside County has continued to value and fund our programs and the budget has been stable even in this economic atmosphere where several counties have threatened to pull the plugs on Cooperative Extension. Support for travel, housing (an opening made available by retirement), communication, and clerical will be available from Riverside County. This position has the support of the Economics Workgroup and several countydirectors in the southern California Region including Orange, Riverside, San Diego and Imperialcounties.
Other Support: We envisionthat this program will receive support from commodity groups such as the Citrus ResearchBoard, The Avocado Commission, the Date Commission, and the Grape Commission due to thegrowing need for economic feasibility and cost benefit studies as well as for risk and financialmanagement tools and education.
Location: The advisor will be housed in the UCCE Riverside County office in Moreno Valley. It is a mid way location from all the counties to be covered by the position in the southern California.