Iowa Farm Service Agency Careers

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Iowa Farm Service Agency (FSA) is offering a new approach to recruiting agricultural leaders who want to become County Executive Directors (CED). Iowa FSA, with support from the Biden-Harris Administration, will open job announcements later this month to the County Office Executive Director Training (CEDT) Pilot Program. The goal of the pilot is to incentivize more candidates to compete for positions in the training program by reducing the relocation distance someone might have to accept compared to if they graduated from the traditional CEDT program.

Under the CEDT Program that is currently used nationwide, candidates are expected to relocate within their state when the training program is complete. In Iowa that could mean needing to relocate up to six hours away from an applicant’s current location. The new Iowa CEDT Pilot Program breaks Iowa into four quadrants allowing candidates to apply for positions that are closer to home and not requiring potential relocation across the entire state. View the quadrants here. 

Under this pilot program, Iowa USDA Farm Service Agency is seeking to fill multiple positions with individuals who will train to become FSA CEDs. A CED is responsible for directing and managing program and administrative operations for the counties served by the Service Center. The CED supervises and works with staff to carry out permanent and ad hoc programs and policies established by USDA to help farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners in the local agricultural community. The CED is responsible for promotion of programs through outreach efforts with groups, businesses, educational institutions, and other area organizations and leads communication functions for the office.

Successful applicants to the CEDT Pilot Program will complete a yearlong training program. Once the applicant has completed their training course, they will be expected to apply for County Executive Director (CED) positions that are announced throughout the quadrant(s) in which they applied.

The application process is an online process through usajobs.gov, direct links to the CEDT Pilot Program vacancy announcements will posted on this site as soon as the application period opens. 

View all job announcements for the Iowa Farm Service Agency.