NFU (National Farmers' Union)
County Farming Adviser – Cambridgeshire (East Region)
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County Farming Adviser – Cambridgeshire (East Region)
Salary: c. £41,000 (dependent on skills and experience) plus company car or car allowance
Location: Home-based, with county cover over Cambridgeshire (East region)
Working Hours: 35 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
About the Role
In this diverse and fast-paced role, we are seeking an ambitious professional with a passion for supporting member businesses, where each day brings new challenges.
In an area of highly productive land—ranging from extractive agriculture (wheat, sugar beet, sunflowers) to ornamental produce (roses)—you will act as an advisory catalyst, guiding local farmers and producers in strategic business decisions.
Purpose & Key Contributions
Working across Cambridgeshire in the East region, you will lead a team of NFU Group Secretaries—already dual-hatted as NFU Mutual insurance agents—by:
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Member Support & Engagement
- Developing growth strategies to recruit and retain members, curating plans that ensure their voices resonate at policy and operational levels, both locally and nationally.
- Building lobbying infrastructure by influencing stakeholders, including relevant ministry representatives, trade bodies, and environmental agencies.
- Managing the NFU’s democratic structures within the county through representation, advocacy, and member education.
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Team Leadership
- Hiring, managing performance, mentoring, and advising remote-based Group Secretaries in member-facing activities and NFU strategising.
- Ensuring a consistent national voice while promoting regional priorities, leading collaboration between local members and the NFU’s regional and HQ teams.
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Strategic Networking & Campaigning
- Act as the face of the NFU in Cambridgeshire: stakeholder engagement beyond farming, partnering with local authorities, politicians, and media.
- Take the regional lead on select NFU initiatives relating to farming, food security, rural development, climate mitigation, and environmental policies.
Key Responsibilities
- Market intelligence: Analysing local agricultural trends, operational challenges, and opportunities to advise members effectively.
- Business development: Pitching the NFU’s services to non-members, expanding relevancy, and retaining loyalty.
- Policy liaison: Translating member feedback into impact, presenting views in government, parliamentary sessions, and media forums.
- Technical guidance: Support members with agricultural innovation, resiliency, and compliance (e.g., CAP schemes, environmental legislation).
- Travel & outreach: Extensive driving, attendance at farming shows, agri-events, and media briefings.
For internal reference, this role is branded as the "County Adviser – East (Cambridgeshire)" within the NFU.
What You’ll Bring
Essential Qualifications & Experience
- Farming, supply chain, or agricultural professional roots with substantial hands-on knowledge of modern UK agricultural practices.
- Techno-economic proficiency: Cultural awareness of crop rotations, livestock management, and market factors influencing profitability.
- Fluency in rural policies, prioritising agriculture-focused legislation (e.g., CAP reforms), climate regulations, and environmental standards (e.g., Nitrate Directive, carbon farming).
- Strategic communications expertise
- Persuasive, public-facing advocacy skills, excellent at engaging members, industry figures, and general public.
- Adept at reporting member grievances to central management, then presenting back to local auditoriums as succinct, actionable policy recommendations.
- Confidence in facing media, including addressing misrepresentations with factual counterarguments.
- Process and stakeholder management
- Ability to navigate complex relationships without compromising member interests.
- Experience working across virtual and in-person channels, including meetings, video conferencing, and field operations.
- Team leadership vs. adaptability duality
- Track record of hiring, training, and evaluating decentralized teams—requires ability to empower autonomous subordinates while ensuring alignment with objectives.
- Decision-making in real-time under pressure; balancing risk with level-headed negotiations.
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Desirable Attributes
- Educated at degree level (or equivalent professional qualifications) in an agricultural, environmental, or policy-analytical field.
- Chartered status (e.g., Chartered Agricultural Marketer) or membership of a recognised agri-business body would enhance profile.
- Experience with rural taskforce projects or similar policy advisory roles.
- Driver confidence for short/long trips (ideally holds a full UK licence).
Regional & National Ambition
This is an operational role—acting at the frontline to protect and amplify the voice of local farming families while aligning them with the NFU’s broader UK strategy.
Benefits Package
The NFU is committed to valuing its high-performing workforce via a competitive and well-rounded benefits framework combining financial incentives and lifestyle support:
Work-Life Balance
-️ Generous holiday entitlement (stage 1: 25 days + Bank Holidays; progressing to 30 days with career tenure). -️ 1 annual company-sponsored day off (commemorated as the NFU Christmas Company Day). -️ Option to swap, bank, or sell up to 5 days’ leave annually.
Career Support
- Performance-rewarded pay structure tied to role and contribution.
- Access to learning and development programs, fostering growth in future agri-policy directions.
- Education mapping: One-to-one coaching aligned to internal career rotations.
Wellbeing & Protection
- Fuel-free transport option via company car (pep) or mileage allowance—tailored to role-specific mobility needs.
- NHS Cashplan-supported annual health screening.
- Enhanced maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave (aligned to UK legislation with added flexibilities).
- Competitive pension and Life Assurance scheme contributions.
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Extras & Savings
- Interest-free user loans for:
- Work vehicles.
- Bikes (commuter/business).
- Season ticket plans (travel).
- Professional courses/needed certifications (e.g., driving qualifications).
- Exclusive NFU employee assistance program for emotional and practical resourcing.
Discounts
- Enriched partnerships provide cost-saving where available (e.g., automotive leasing, short-term self-catering accommodations).
Our Vision, for Them and You
A Stronger Trade
We’re the largest farming membership organisation in the UK—battling to secure the future of 43,000 farmers and growers, all of whom provide food security and sustain rural livelihoods against:
-❄️ Climate-related agricultural pressures and shifting operational dynamics.
- ⚖️ Food standards navigating health trends and consumer demands.
- 🏢 Urban-policy interference in traditional farmland use.
- 🔌 Rural infrastructure gaps (e.g., broadband, services).
It’s a collaborative agenda that moves from farmer lobbying in Westminster to supporting its workforce in regional hubs like Cambridgeshire—whereabalancing tradition with innovation is key to both.
Our Teams
We unite action with respect:
- Local leaders empowering communities in everyday challenges.
- Seasoned leaders in broad agriculture and rural outreach domestically.
- Advisory and policy strategists mapping trajectories for decades ahead.
Growth means malleable induction, shaped both by our Core Beliefs (co-operation, inclusion, sustainability) and your career trajectory.
Flexible Future Ask
An environmental impact needs wave-level action. The NFU holds each_{{}_{[member, team, role]}} accountable to:
Partner with us in bolting:
- Advanced remote working adaptations (where geographically feasible).
- Agile operational schedules, avoiding rigid gravitation towards 9–5, when duty rotates.
- Mental health and resilience strategies—including peer support networks and official training.
Why Join Us?
Susanne Rosenbusch-Elliott (Deputy General Secretary) notes: "NFU doesn’t just build careers—it ubuntu care them, to navigate the roads less travelled in agriculture."
By joining, you commit to a career where you can shape policy as you climb, or shape individual farm plans in isolation. Either way, it’s a journey with visible teeth—yet, it is one sustained by colleagues who absolutely ‘get’ you.
Enquire today. Decision-making remains flexible: we reserve the right to withdraw open application windows at any time for suitable candidates.
© National Farmers' Union
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