Director of Farm Enterprises

Please note that references provided at the time of application for staff positions will not be contacted until the applicant has been offered the position.

Description

Reporting directly to the Provost, the Director of Farm Enterprises provides strategic and administrative leadership for Berea College's Farm Enterprises, encompassing the Livestock & Horticulture Operations, and Farm Store. The Director provides overall direction for these areas and supervises the professional staff responsible for their day-to-day operations. In partnership with ANR faculty, the Director ensures Farm Enterprises support the College's academic mission and provide meaningful educational and labor experiences for students. The Director is responsible for the overall financial performance, operational effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and long-range planning of Farm Enterprises. The position establishes priorities and coordinates resources across the three areas to support sustainable agricultural practices and the educational and financial objectives of the College. The Director also serves as a key innovator and the primary representative and advocate for Farm Enterprises with College leadership, campus partners, and external stakeholders moving the College Farm forward and ensuring its longstanding role in the community.

Following long-standing tradition and practice at Berea College, this position includes responsibility for supervising, mentoring, and developing students in the College's integrated Work College Program. This supports student learning, career readiness, and the program's learning goals and outcomes. The Work College Program provides a developmental framework that guides student learning while creating a structured mentorship opportunity, with role-specific training that equips faculty and staff mentors to support student development. Faculty and staff mentors play an essential part in helping students connect their work-learning-service experiences with broader academic, professional, and personal development. For faculty, this aligns with Berea's tenure and promotion criteria.

Your Key Responsibilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Regular and predictable attendance is essential. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Farm Operations, Educational Integration & Program Management (45% of the time):
• Provide overall leadership and operational oversight for the Livestock & Horticulture Operations, and Farm Store, establishing priorities and ensuring coordination across Farm Enterprises.
• Supervise professional staff responsible for Farm Enterprise operations, including establishing expectations and conducting annual performance evaluations.
• Ensure farm management practices support ANR curriculum and the College's educational mission, particularly in the areas of the environmental stewardship, economic viability, social responsibility, and animal welfare.
• Lead regular staff meetings to establish priorities, coordinate activities, address operational needs, and maintain effective communication among Farm Enterprises staff and ANR faculty.
• Lead hiring processes for Farm Enterprise staff positions and work with Human Resources to maintain appropriate position descriptions and coordinate recruitment, interviewing, and hiring.
• Collaboration with Farm Enterprise staff and ANR faculty to develop and implement long-range plans that strengthen the Farm's educational mission, operational effectiveness, and role as a model of sustainable Appalachian agriculture.
• Financial Management & Administrative Oversight (25% of the time)
• Develop and oversee the operating budget for Farm Enterprises, working with managers and staff to monitor revenues, expenditures, and overall financial performance.
• Establish financial resource priorities across the Livestock & Horticulture Operations, and Farm Store to support the educational and operational objectives of Farm Enterprises.
• Review and approve Farm Enterprise expenses to ensure appropriate allocation, alignment with approved budgets, and responsible stewardship of College resources.
• Advise the Provost regarding significant financial, operational, equipment, infrastructure, and other resource needs affecting Farm Enterprises.
• Institutional & External Relations & Strategic Leadership (15% of the time):
• Advise the Provost on Farm Enterprise operations, strategic priorities, opportunities, and challenges.
• Provide leadership for the marketing and public representation of Farm Enterprises and its products in collaboration with appropriate College offices and Farm Enterprise staff.
• Serve as the primary representative of Farm Enterprises with prospective students, donors, agricultural professionals, peer institutions, customers, community partners, and other visitors.
• Coordinate and support Farm Enterprise tours, field days, summer courses, and other educational or community events.
• Serve as the spokesperson for Farm Enterprises as appropriate and represent its interests within the College and broader community.
• Advancement, Relations, Community Engagement (10% of the time):
• Partner with Alumni, Communications and Philanthropy to identify and support grants, fundraising, donor engagement, and other opportunities that strengthen student learning, Farm Enterprise operations, and infrastructure.
• Support communications and outreach efforts that promote Farm Enterprises, its educational mission, products,programs, and community engagement.
• Develop and maintain relationships with agricultural organizations, community partners, alumni donors, and other stakeholders that support the long-term success and visibility of Farm Enterprises.
• Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management (5% of the time):
• Maintain overall accountability for Farm Enterprises' compliance with applicable College policies and external regulatory requirements, including requirements of the Internal Auditor, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, Madison County Health Department, and other applicable agencies.
• Ensure Farm Enterprise managers maintain appropriate operational records, certifications, safety practices, and compliance procedures within their respective areas.
• Identify and address significant operational, regulatory, safety, and compliance risks affecting Farm Enterprises.

Other roles/duties will be assigned as necessary to assist the College in the attainment of the goals set forth and the enhancement of a positive, respectful learning environment for al staff, faculty and students.

What You'll Bring

Education required to ensure success in this position:

• Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture, Agribusiness Management, Environmental Science, Natural Resource Management or similar
  
  

Experience required to ensure success in this position:

• Minimum 5-7 years' experience in diversified farm management experience, including pasture-based livestock (cattle, hogs & poultry), organic crops and produce production including supervision and personnel management, required.
• 3 years' experience providing supervision across multiple agricultural or business functions, preferably including pasture-based livestock, organic crop and product production, horticulture, retail or direct-market operations,or other diversified agricultural enterprises.
  
  

Special Skills, knowledge and abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to supervise, develop, and evaluate professional staff
• Demonstrated leadership ability and capacity to provide strategic direction and administrative oversight across multiple operational areas.
• Strong knowledge of diversified agricultural operations and familiarity with sustainable agriculture, livestock and crop production, horticulture, agricultural markets, and contemporary food and agriculture trends.
• Knowledge of regulatory, safety, risk-management, animal welfare, environmental-stewardship, and other compliance considerations associated with diversified agricultural enterprises.
• Demonstrated experience with budget-development, financial management, operational planning, and resource allocation.
• Excellent oral/written communication and superior interpersonal skills with the ability to work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting.
• Strong organizational skills, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and complex operations.
• Significant experience in program planning, coordination, and evaluation. Demonstrated aptitude for analyzing data and applying findings to direct the program, set goals, and make program projections.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.
  
  

License, certification, or registration necessary:

• Valid driver's license
• Required background checks
  
  

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to navigate campus/public buildings and grounds
• Ability to travel independently by car and/or plane
• Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 lbs.
  
  

Environmental Conditions:

• Farm conditions with exposure to odor, dust, pollen, mold, animals, invertebrate pets, manure, adverse environmental conditions, and inclement weather (heat, humidity, cold, rain, ice, snow)
• Professional office environment with interruptions and noise due to frequent visitors, students, staff and faculty
• Occasional travel required for meetings, conferences, etc.
• Limited activity within walk-in freezers and refrigerators
  
  

Ability to operate the following vehicles or equipment:

• Standard office equipment: computer, fax, phone, etc.
• College Vans, truck and trailer combinations, including bumper pull and gooseneck containing livestock, livestock products, equipment, or supplies.
• Tractors, cultivation, planting, harvesting, mowing, feed grinding, and other equipment typically used on a farm
  
  

Founded in 1855, Berea College is nationally recognized as the first coeducational and interracial college in the South. Berea has a longstanding commitment to interracial education and is one of the most racially diverse private liberal arts colleges in the United States. With an emphasis on service to Appalachia and beyond, Berea enrolls more than 1,500 students from 44 states and U.S. territories and more than 60 countries. Berea College admits students who are unable to afford tuition and provides every enrolled student with a fully funded degree that covers 100% of tuition, housing, food, supplies, and fees without loans, for all four years. Berea’s students excel in the College’s supportive yet demanding academic environment, and most are the first in their families to attend college. As one of only 10 federally recognized Work Colleges, all Berea students work 10-12 hours weekly in various positions across campus, building professional skills in a real-world learning environment. Washington Monthly ranked Berea College the #1 Best College for your Tuition and Tax Dollars, 2025. Berea also ranks #1 in educational access by The New York Times, 2023 and #1 for lowest educational debt by U.S. News and World Report, 2025 and 2026. Berea College is also the only institution in Kentucky to receive the 5-Star Rating from Money Magazine, 2026.

Located where the Bluegrass Region meets the Cumberland Mountains, the town of Berea (pop. 17,000) lies 40 miles south of Lexington and is approximately two hours from Cincinnati, Louisville, and Knoxville. More information about Berea College is available at www.berea.edu.

Berea College, in light of its mission in the tradition of impartial love and social equality, welcomes all people of the earth to learn and work here.

Our Benefits

Berea College offers a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees and their families including health care, dental, vision, retirement, health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability and an Employee Assistance Program. The benefit package also includes access to the Child Development Laboratory for children of College Staff, ages 6 weeks to 6 years, Seabury Center Membership, Staff Development Funds and Tuition Reimbursement.

Eligible staff employees also receive paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave.

Part-time employees who work an average of twenty-four hours per week over the course of a year, receive benefits on a pro-rated basis.

To learn more details, visit our benefits page at https://www.berea.edu/human-resources/employee-benefits.

Our Unique Culture

Berea College strives to be a place where people with various Christian interpretations, different religious traditions, and no religious traditions work together in support of Berea's Great Commitments.

Over the past century, various leaders of the College have applied the College’s inclusive scriptural foundation and spirit to their expanding world and welcomed those whose beliefs were consistent with the Christian gospel of impartial love. Therefore, Berea College today affirms its inclusive Christian tradition even as it respects the traditions of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, as well as other faiths, and those holding no religious beliefs. We strive not to ignore our differences, but rather seek to understand each other honestly and respectfully, and together create a climate where anyone can openly discuss what they believe without fear of sanction. To that end, all persons who are willing to share in the spirit and the work of the Great Commitments as shaped by its preamble are welcome to study, to teach, and to work at Berea

Labor Supervision

In support of Berea College’s great commitments, staff and faculty serve as labor supervisors. Our fourth great commitment, The Dignity of Labor, promotes learning and serving in community through the student Labor Program, honoring the dignity and utility of all work, mental and manual, and taking pride in work well done. Student Labor Supervision includes scheduling, assigning, and approving student work, developing students' workplace acumen, and providing tangible work experience. To learn more about the labor program office please see the following link Labor Program Office.