Global Nursery Agronomist

• Location: South Africa - Remote Worker
• Job Family: Research & Development
• Time Type: Full time
• Job Requisition ID: R0006298
• Experience Years: 3-5 Years of Experience
• Employee Type: Regular
• Remote Type: Hybrid

To continually delight our berry consumers through alignment with our customers and berry growers, the Nursery is required to provide the right plants in the right volumes at the right time. In this way, the Nursery is the engine room of our business. The Global Nursery Agronomist will play a solid role to support and assist the Global Nursery Program Manager to refine, optimize and standardize best practices necessary for delivering plant supply requirements that meet fruit demand by region and align global nurseries on processes to support uniformity and consistency in finished product globally, deploy relevant innovative solutions improving Nursery Excellence (Quality, efficiency and sustainability), and leverage Best in Class examples to benefit the entire global nursery network. The position will be required to work under the responsibility of the Global Nursery Program Manager and together with Agronomy tech transfer team to create, maintain and champion an open collaborative environment that is conducive to knowledge and technology sharing with all necessary stakeholders. Under the leadership of Nursery Program Manager, The Global Nursery Agronomist will be responsible for maintaining interconnectivity and continuity between nursery and fruiting agronomy tech transfer team members to optimize both functions and finished products. The Global Nursery agronomist will be required to travel globally in a planned and structured way to meet in person with nursery teams. The position will require the ability to manage multiple initiatives and facilitate positive and solution-oriented discussions with key stakeholders at all levels. The position will require time management flexibility to accommodate different time zones, and some weekend/OOH travel will be required.

• Foster and build strong working relationships with Global Nursery teams founded on Trust.
• Foster and build strong working relationships with fruit agronomy Tech Transfer and Applied Research teams.
• Act as a conduit to connect all relevant parties to key initiatives and opportunities for collaboration and networking.
• Work with Nursery team members to gather information on regional BMP and Cultivation guides for key nursery practices and use these to benchmark, refine, and standardize best practice globally. To include supporting Nursery team members in revising existing documents and developing new ones where they don’t exist.
• Identify knowledge gaps and facilitate or train directly global Nursery colleagues in the execution of key production processes and techniques to elevate uniformity and consistency of plant material within Different BU’s.
• Improve efficiencies with key nursery processes through working closely with the Global Nursery program manager and collaborating with Nursery leads on innovation, mechanization, and automation opportunities.
• Enabling the deployment of innovations and sustainable growing methods that foster automation, mechanization and increased efficiencies required to deliver nursery excellence, and ultimately deliver more berries with less resources.
• Plan schedule and maintain a required cadence of MS Teams meetings with relevant stakeholders.
• Work with GNPM to identify and quantify any requirement for the consultancy services of external industry experts.
• Plan all global travel with GNPM and be prepared to travel independently to visit Driscoll’s nurseries embedded within Global Business Units.
• Write and share comprehensive and succinct reports after each visit.
• Help plan and facilitate visitor nursery trips to his/her own or other host countries/regions.
• Follows company policies and practices while representing Driscoll’s in an ethical and business-like manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, growers, customers, etc.
• Ensures the security of Driscoll’s confidential and proprietary information and materials.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Horticulture, Horticultural Science, Agronomy, or Ag Business Management or related field, or equivalent experience in production management.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in the soft fruit industry. Strong business knowledge of fruit and nursery harvest, production management, agronomy, grower economics, research, product quality/food safety, and customer service.
• A proven ability to identify, focus, and prioritize key tasks.
• Excellent written and communication skills and ability to distil complex issues down into palatable and usable information.
• Must use sound judgment with ability to recognize and act upon good ideas, at times making competent decisions in a fast-moving strategic environment.
• Extensive travel will be required (up to 50% internationally).
• Current driver’s license and the ability to be covered under company-sponsored vehicle insurance program.
• A valid passport and ability to travel extensively, often weekly. Short and long haul.

Driscoll's is the global market leader for fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. With more than 100 years of farming heritage and hundreds of independent growers around the world, Driscoll's is passionate about growing fresh, beautiful and delicious berries. Our values of humility, passion and trustworthiness have guided our mission to delight consumers around the world.

Driscoll's exclusive patented berry varieties are developed through years of research using only natural breeding methods – meaning, no GMOs. From farm-to-table, we focus on delivering a high quality, premium berry experience with our many supply chain partners.

Driscoll's is the trusted brand for Only the Finest Berries.

Driscoll's es el proveedor líder en la comercialización de Fresas, Frambuesas, Zarzamoras y Arándanos Azules en el mundo. Con más de 100 años de herencia en agricultura y cientos de productores independiente alrededor del mundo, Driscoll's es una compañía apasionada por cultivar Berries frescas, hermosas y deliciosas. Nuestros valores de humildad, pasión y confianza han guiado nuestra misión de deleitar a los consumidores en el mundo.

Las variedades exclusivas de Driscoll's han sido desarrolladas a través de años de investigación usando sólo métodos de mejoramiento natural. De la granja a la mesa, nos enfocamos en ofrecer una experiencia de alta calidad con apoyo de nuestros socios de la cadena de suministro.

Driscoll's es la marca de confianza de sólo las mejores Berries.