Research Associate

The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics invites applications for a Research Faculty position to provide annual estimate of real estate values of agricultural and horticultural crops for all counties and participating cities. This position will also assist with the development and maintenance of open space use value estimates for Virginia localities. Duties include: development of computational methods; maintenance of current models and data sets; and identifying and testing alternative data sources. Maintain detailed design specifications and written documentation for existing data analytic models. When necessary, be responsible for development of new computational methods and work with programmers to incorporate these methods into current models based on systematic testing and validation relative to current and historical data.
Strong written, oral, and electronic communication skills are essential. Specific responsibilities include working with faculty members in a team setting to accomplish the following: 1) Writing statutorily required and other annual reports, grants, and contracts; 2) Conducting research and conceptualizing appropriate methods and materials to improve the validity and reliability of the project; 3) Developing and maintaining models for calculating use value assessment estimates; 4) Maintaining all content on the Virginia's Use Value Assessment Program's website (https://luva.aaec.vt.edu/); 5) Conducting research projects, such as the assessment of the fiscal impact of alternative taxing scenarios and land use related research such as the analysis of real estate sales for agricultural land; 6) Annually develop and publish cost of production budgets for major agricultural and horticultural enterprises; 7) Presenting annual estimates at two public hearings before the State Land Evaluation and Advisory Council (SLEAC); 8) Conducting educational programs for organizations and government agencies, such as local Farm Bureau groups, County Boards of Supervisors, Chambers of Commerce, other interested parties; 9)Conducting in-service training for extension personnel; 10) mentor and supervise students.

Outstanding database management and analytics skills, including proficiency in MS Excel, Oracle, SAS, Adobe, Powerpoint; Excellent oral and written skills; Demonstrated experience delivering financial education to stakeholders; Master’s degree in economics with significant years of related professional experience; Direct experience advising undergraduate and graduate students in research; Direct experience in proposal writing for grants or contracts.

Demonstrated success in scholarship and teaching. Scholarship and outreach interests that contribute to AAEC’s mission. Strength in economic theory, statistical programming, and quantitative analysis. Direct experience with production farm management issues relevant to Virginia producers. Experience developing crop net return budgets. Demonstrated familiarity with Virginia’s special tax assessment for agricultural, forestry, and open space lands including Virginia’s income and rental rate approaches. Experience with development of use-value estimate methods and procedures and authorship of articles, reports, and/or user manuals for land use-value estimates. Experience with ag, forestland, and open space fair market valuation and assessment of yearly trends. Experience with statistical computing programs including R, python, stata, or similar program. Experience with GIS and VamaNet or similar program.

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Exempt: Not eligible for overtime

Restricted

Commensurate with Experience

40

11/21/2025

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

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