Work with Us! ACN Media Liaison Officer

Agroecology Comms Network (ACN) Media Liaison Office

Part-time (approx. 35 days per year), remote, UK-based, one-year fixed-term contract
Freelance day rate of £350
Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.
Ideal start date: 1st October 2025

About the Real Farming Trust

The Real Farming Trust (RFT) runs a number of programmes which bring people of all food and farming backgrounds and experiences together to advocate for a fairer food system based on agroecology. We are a small charity and value honesty, empathy, care and compassion in our interactions with each other in the organisation and with the partners we work with. 

About the Agroecology Comms Network (ACN)

The Agroecology Comms Network (ACN) emerged from the 2020 Oxford Real Farming Conference and connects communications staff working to promote agroecology across a wide range of organisations, big and small, to foster collaboration and resource-sharing.

The network helps to resource the movement from within by providing opportunities for upskilling, networking and building our collective voice. We do this through offering online skills sessions, in-person gatherings, and building and producing shared resources.

The group has grown quickly and now has more than 150 members from more than 70 organisations who are in touch regularly about supporting each other’s campaigns, getting advice on communication tools, and sharing ideas and contacts.

The network also produces a regular Agroecology New Digest to keep parliamentarians well informed on the latest research, updates and events happening across the movement.

About the ACN Media Liaison Officer Role

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual with media experience to support the UK’s food and farming movement in reaching a wider audience with its campaigns and messaging. The media liaison officer will help comms professionals across the agroecological food and farming sector shape and direct their campaigns to be considered for publication by journalists and media outlets in the UK and elsewhere. 

The right candidate will already have a wide number of media contacts and be responsible for further developing relationships between the ACN membership and the media. They will also help members develop their press materials, respond to media inquiries, and support strong and consistent messaging on agroecology on behalf of the network. The media liaison officer will also help facilitate training and further develop media pitching skills across the ACN. 

The Media Liaison officer will work closely with the Real Farming Trust Comms Manager and ACN Coordinator, as well as with network members from organisations across the real food and farming movement. They will also work with the Parliamentarians for Agroecology coordinator to maintain alignment across media and policy messaging. The role is remote, with some travel required across the UK, and a commitment to being at on-site events 3-4 times throughout the year.

Key Responsibilities:

• Managing Media Relations: Building and maintaining relationships with journalists and media outlets. 
• Creating and Distributing Content: Developing press releases, statements, and other media materials. 
• Responding to Inquiries: Handling media requests for information and interviews, and linking these to relevant ACN members. 
• Monitoring Media Coverage: Tracking media mentions of agroecology/regen/sustainable farming and reporting on how the food and farming movement is being portrayed. 
• Developing Network Communication Strategies: Helping to plan and execute joint communications, including the Agroecology News Digest. 
• Supporting Skills Development: Offering guidance and training to ACN members on media interactions and communication best practices. 
• Staying Informed: Keeping up with current events and media trends.

Essential Skills and Experience

• 5+ years prior  journalistic experience or press relations at a national press level or agency/in-house/freelance capacity
• An excellent communicator with a proven track record of pitching and landing stories with national press outlets
• Ability to multitask and work flexibly with a diverse network of stakeholders of differing backgrounds and experience
• Exemplary media knowledge with a good network of journalists and media contacts
• Experience in crafting material into an engaging story or press release 
• Understanding of agroecology and food sovereignty, and enthusiasm for advocating for environmental and social justice
• Excellent ability to work proactively and independently; the ability to take initiative and deliver without supervision is paramount.

How to Apply

Please email (a) your CV and (b) a covering letter (no more than 1 page) as a Word document detailing evidence (eg, examples of experience, qualifications) that you meet the criteria listed and why you are suited to the role to Brittany Oakes on brittany@realfarming.org by 12pm BST on Monday, September 29th 2025. 

If you have questions about the role, please contact Lucy Harding on lucy@realfarming.org. 

What will happen after you have sent in your application

• We will let all applicants know if they have been shortlisted for an interview by Monday, October 6th 2025.
• Interviews will take place online on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th October 2025. If these dates or timings are difficult for you, please tell us in your application.
• We will share a summary of the interview questions in advance with you. The aim of the interview is to help you show us how you would do the role, not to catch you out.
• We will let you know in advance who will be on the interview panel and their role within the RFT.

Equity and Anti-Oppression

We are committed to becoming a more inclusive workplace with a diverse staff body. We believe this is essential to our effectiveness as an organisation and our ability to fulfil our mission of “good food for everyone, forever”. We need to address both inequity and oppression within our work if we are to meet our aim. There will be tensions that this work creates and difficult questions that we need to address both internally and externally.

We know that people with certain backgrounds and characteristics are underrepresented in our team and in the alternative food and farming movement, and we want to address this. We are committed to working proactively to dismantle these systems of oppression and ensure equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background.

We have started to do this work internally, but we know there is much more to do. Every member of RFT staff is involved and part of this work. We have an internal Equity and Anti-Oppression Group that leads and monitors this work and reports to the Board.

Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form

The Real Farming Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity in line with the Equality Act 2010, providing an inclusive and co-operative environment in which all individuals feel respected. Filling in this equality and diversity monitoring form is voluntary. The information you provide will be kept confidential and will only be used for monitoring purposes. Please don’t enter any information that would identify you. This form is kept separately from your application and will not be seen by interviewers.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we usually receive, we regret that we are unable to offer feedback to individual applicants.

Thank you for your interest in the Real Farming Trust.