Senior Field Agronomist at McCain Foods

PURPOSE OF THE JOB:

The Senior Extension Officer is responsible for;

• The planning of crops in the responsible area to meet the business required volume and quality at the correct time.
• Draft and update master plan per crop. Supervising the sampling team (when in his/her designated area) to ensure that regular crop sampling takes place to monitor anticipated quality and quantity contracted to crops and determine harvesting date & schedule. Ensure that all seed is booked/invoiced to relevant growers and documented (follow SOP).
• Effective communication with Factory, Agric and Mechanization to minimize impact of deviation.
• Ensuring vegetables are contracted, planted and harvested in accordance with timelines and agreed pricing so to deliver the required volumes and quality to the production team. He/she is responsible for expanding grower bases, ensure compliance with company guidelines and provide technical support to growers.
• Monitor fields on weekly basis and highlight red flags to McCain and Grower.
• Insuring growers are Global or McCain GAP compliant.

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:

RAW Volume delivery

• Build and maintain strong relationship with current growers and develop grower base.
• Do planting and harvesting schedule for the Loskop region according to production capacity and requirement.
• Contract the required crop volumes
•  Monitor crop/field to advise the grower on corrective action.

Delivery Cost

• Minimize expensive buy out by ensuring contracted crop materializes

Yield increase

• Together with the Agronomy team work closely in developing improved varieties.
• Implementation and upkeep of McCain agricultural technologies.(irrigation probes, NDVI maps, Drones & precision farming)
• Educate growers through grower information days.

Quality measurement /improvement of raw material quality

• Monitor crop/fields regularly in order to advise and give technical support to the grower.
• Educate growers through grower information days.
• Develop relationship with local crop protection companies to collaborate and ensure corrective action
• Keep current grower base (crop specific) updated on current challenges and possible solution.

McCain GAP compliance

• Inform growers off the GAP compliant requirement.
• Guide and assist grower with required information and procedure to prepare for Audit.
• Obtain GAP certificates and monitor the grower base compliance.

 REQUIREMENTS:

• Matric / Grade 12
• Diploma/ Degree in Agriculture, Agronomy (Crop Science) at NQF level 6
• Minimum 5 years’ agricultural advisory experience
   

CERTIFICATES/LICENSES:

• BASOS & AVCASA
• Valid Driver’s License (CODE E)
   

SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Exceptional knowledge and understanding of agricultural production systems and variables, e.g. crops, climate, disease, fertilization, irrigation, soils, etc.
• Knowledge of current and emerging agricultural technologies.
• An understanding of raw material supply chain activities and the relationship between the grower and the factory.
• Negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal, problem solving and relationship building skills.
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task in a flexible, fast paced and challenging operational environment.
• Strong orientation for people
• Computer literacy essential
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Must be competent in crop planning, scheduling and execution.