Cooperative Extension Area Water and Soil Resources Advisor Serving Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Marin Counties; AP

The University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) invites applications for a UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Area Water and Soil Resources Advisor serving Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Marin Counties. The advisor will serve as an expert on irrigation water management and soil, focusing on strategies to meet agricultural and managed ecosystem water requirements while stewarding soil quality. They will develop an applied research and extension education program that promotes innovative on-farm water use, ensures sustainable groundwater use, and promotes climate‑smart water and soil management practices.

Cooperative Extension Advisors are responsible for applied research and extending knowledge. Research activities are needs‑based, mission‑oriented, and focused on addressing community challenges. Extension activities are the educational practices advisors use to share research results directly with clientele and communities. Increased knowledge and understanding of science‑based research help to support and promote the adoption of practices and technologies that solve problems. Extension methods may include individual consultations, presentations, organization of educational workshops and short courses, field demonstrations, and farm and site visits.

Information may also be disseminated via radio outreach, webinars, fact sheets, policy briefs, news blogs, and social media. Publications are expected in various formats, including newsletters, popular press articles, curricula, conference proceedings, and peer‑reviewed publications. Successful research and extension programs result in new information that improves knowledge and understanding, and leads to the adoption of new skills, practices, and attitudes, and to changes in policies related to environmental, health, agricultural, economic, and/or social conditions.

UCCE Advisors are evaluated through an academic advancement system based on four criteria: extending knowledge, applied research and creative activity, professional competence and activity, and University and public service.

Location headquarters: UCCE Sonoma County, 133 Aviation Blvd., Suite 109, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 or UCCE Napa County, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa, CA 94559.

The advisor will assist agricultural producers and resource managers throughout the four‑county area as they navigate changing water availability, climate conditions, regulatory requirements, and agricultural production practices. They will help producers evaluate and adopt innovative approaches to water and soil management that support both near‑term productivity and long‑term agricultural viability. Given that wine grapes are an important commodity in the area, the incumbent can expect to work extensively with wine grape growers, while also addressing the water and soil management needs of the region's diverse agricultural sectors.

Applied research is an important part of the advisor's role. The incumbent will develop a research program to improve understanding and use of technology, such as monitoring plant water stress and soil moisture, optimizing irrigation scheduling, and mitigating the effects of damaging heatwaves. This may include research on cost‑effective aerial remote sensing tools that capture plant, soil, and atmospheric data to enable growers to quantify the annual differences in water use due to increasingly variable weather conditions, increase water storage and holding capacity, and modify management practices for improved soil health.

Agriculture across the region is undergoing significant transition as producers respond to changing water availability, increasingly variable climate conditions, evolving regulatory…