Position:

Natural Resources Specialist/Soil Scientist/Agronomist

Salary Range:

$57,118 – 89,835 per year

Job Description:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service Dairy Forage Unit, in Madison, Wisconsin is seeking an energetic and motivated applicant for a fulltime Natural Resources Specialist/Soil Scientist/Agronomist. The incumbent will be expected to: 1) Serves as a central resource and liaison for the Soil Health Collaborative team. 2) Works with the Soil Health Collaborative leadership team and the supervisor to ensure the operation plans reflect the teams’ priorities and policies. 3) Provides input on and leads efforts to develop or revise internal communication protocols among project leadership and externally with project partners. 4) Coordinates and gathers necessary information to draft cooperator agreements, which will include providing guidance on the development of logic models, project objectives, budgets, and budget justifications. 5) Maintains consistent coordination among diverse teams within the Soil Health Collaborative. 6) Coordinates and leads project- wide meeting and field days with cooperators and stakeholders. 7) Assists in writing and assembling documentation for the submission of grant proposals and other agreements. Experience required is working with large, multidisciplinary teams, leading communication processes with diverse groups of stakeholders, and implementing programs and procedures to administer large projects.

The Soil Health Collaborative:

A cooperative effort between the U.S. Diary Forage Research Center, UW Madison, and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute to conduct impactful research and outreach efforts focused on soil health. Researching and promoting practices that develop soil health is crucial to how agriculture can mitigate climate variability, soil loss, soil compaction, nutrient loss, water pollution, biodiversity decline, energy use, pesticide drift, fine particulate pollution, community decline, income loss, social disparities, and other challenges to agricultural sustainability. The USDA ARS Dairy Forage Research Center, the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working together, along with farmer and stakeholder partners, to investigate and conduct outreach on profitable, community-supporting, and practical strategies to build agricultural soil health.