Specialist, Regenerative Agriculture Economics

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests  and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why

To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How

Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability, and any other protected group.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Regenerative Economics Specialist is responsible for advising Rainforest Alliance projects in key sectors (primarily coffee and cocoa), analyzing farm economics data, and comparing against sectoral trends, with the overall objective of benefitting the economic position of smallholder producers. The specialist will support the Rainforest Alliance certification program and additional programs with market partners to monitor farm economics, including key indicators such as yield, costs of production, prices, premiums, and living income gap. The specialist will be responsible for modelling the impact of potential intervention strategies, such as regenerative practice adoption and carbon footprint reduction.

Finally, the specialist will be responsible for analyzing and presenting data that illustrates farm economics trends, representing the Rainforest Alliance with companies and other external partners, and recommending policies that benefit smallholder farmers.

The Regenerative Economics Specialist should be experienced in the coffee and / or cocoa sector, ideally based in Central America (see specifications below). The manager will sit in a global team (Markets Innovation), in close coordination work a team of global specialists (Themes), and with Regional teams (especially Meso America and South America).

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Advise Rainforest Alliance regenerative agriculture projects in the coffee and cocoa sector
• Analyze regenerative economics data (yield, costs of production, prices, revenue, net income) from RA’s monitoring and evaluation projects and RA standard, and compare against sectoral trends, including living income benchmarks 
• Model the impact of potential interventions such as regenerative practice adoption, carbon footprint reduction, payments for environmental services, price premiums, and other incentives
• Report findings in simple and easy to understand graphics and visuals
• Use the generated data and knowledge to inform regenerative agriculture strategies for Rainforest Alliance and stakeholders
• Present findings with external stakeholders and markets partners, and recommend strategies that will benefit smallholder producers
• Support local Central America landscape projects as applicable

QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree in agricultural economics, environmental economics, business, or related field and/or equivalent professional qualification
• Demonstrated ability (3-5years) in agriculture, monitoring and evaluation, or international development
• Ability to understand, analyse and interpret data in various formats, including statistical software such as Stata or R
• Experience working with farmers and field data collection
• Self-motivated, proactive with ability to work independently, in a high-pressured environment
• Strong attention to detail, prioritize tasks and stay focused
• Candidates with written and verbal proficiency in English are required
• Ability to travel internationally

JOB LEVEL: 4

SALARY:

Commensurate with experience. 

DEADLINE: March 24, 2023 

NOTES:

Only candidates authorized to work in Guatemala, Honduras, or Costa Rica will be considered

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: [email removed - click apply for more details]