Agricultural Program Specialist

Summary

This position is located in the Farm Service Agency, Kentucky State Office. The duty location will be determined upon selection. About this position: Responsible for administering and advising on assigned Farm Programs in the State, interpreting regulations and legal requirements, providing guidance to County offices on complex, precedent setting, or unusual situations. Provides information to producers, the public, and groups interested in the program and its operations.

Duties

• Serves as resource person to the Supervisor, State Executive Director, State Committee, County Offices and District Directors for information and advice on assigned programs.
• Provides technical guidance on problems and resolves matters between program participants and County FSA Office.
• Interprets national program policies, procedures and regulations to determine their applicability to impact upon program administration in the State.
• Identifies and analyzes program non-compliance, recommending corrective solutions.
• Attends meetings and develops contacts with various governmental agencies, producers and trade organizations, County offices, State agricultural officials, and the public.
• Investigates allegations of fraud or program abuses.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts. Individual Occupational Requirements: GS-1145: Education Undergraduate Education: Major study -- economics, agricultural economics, marketing, business administration, animal or poultry science/husbandry, agronomy, soil science, or related curricula dealing with the production and distribution of farm products. Graduate Education: Major study -- dairy science, agricultural marketing, domestic agricultural development, farm management, agronomy, or other agricultural specialty areas. or Experience General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Experience related to the production and marketing of agricultural commodities. Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Experience that demonstrated: Knowledge of the laws and regulations governing agricultural stabilization and conservation programs and of the particular application of national policies and objectives at the State level; Understanding of farming practices and customs in the United States, and of the economic needs of farm communities at the State level; Knowledge of current State and Federal agricultural trends; and Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with representatives of public and private organizations, farmers' associations, and others, and to interpret regulations, programs, and policies affecting them. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Agricultural extension work as a subject-matter specialist, county agent, or assistant or associate county agent. Teacher of vocational agriculture. District director, State program specialist, or county office employee performing duties in the operational phases of farm programs such as production adjustment, price support, and conservation. Experience at the county, district, or State government levels in the operational phases of farm programs of the type carried out through such agencies as the Soil Conservation Service, Farmers Home Administration, or related programs. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education listed below. Specialized Experience Requirement For the GS-11 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: experience which demonstrates knowledge of the laws and regulations governing agricultural stabilization and conservation programs to assist in applying national policies and objectives at the State level; Understanding of farming practices and customs in the United States, and of the economic needs of farm communities at the State level; Experience working with representatives of public organizations, farmers' associations, and others, to interpret agricultural regulations, programs, and policies affecting them. OR Education at the GS-11 grade level: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience as listed above. For the GS-12 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: experience which demonstrates knowledge of the laws and regulations governing agricultural stabilization and conservation programs to assist in applying national policies and objectives at the State level; Understanding of farming practices and customs in the United States, and of the economic needs of farm communities at the State level; Experience working with representatives of public organizations, farmers' associations, and others, to interpret agricultural regulations, programs, and policies affecting them. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement.

Requirements

You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected, you may be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are unable to reimburse for any fees incurred. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov.

Education

College Transcript: If qualifying based on education, you must submit a copy of your college transcript with course number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g., special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college to ensure proper evaluation. Your education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited toward qualifications. You may verify accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website. We will verify your education accordingly. Foreign Education: You must submit verification that education completed in a foreign institution, was recognized by an accreditation body accepted by the U.S. Department of Education. You must include a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. Your transcripts must be in English or include an English translation. You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcript at the initial phase of the application process. However, if selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Please refer to the "How to Apply" section for instructions on submitting transcripts.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes cannot exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about 1-2 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.