Field Agronomist & Produce Sourcing Specialist

Role Overview

This is a field-based position that sits between the buying desk and the farms that supply it. On a typical week you will be in growing regions walking standing crops and packhouses, sizing up which growers can deliver, agreeing prices and volumes, and coaching farmers on the practices that protect yield and shelf life. What you do on the ground decides whether the business can keep its promise of consistent, traceable, high-grade fresh produce to its customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Grower scouting and vetting: travel through agricultural regions to find, assess, and onboard commercial growers and smallholder farms producing fresh fruits and vegetables, judging their capacity, reliability, and agronomic standards before any supply agreement is made.
• Farm-gate negotiation: agree pricing, committed volumes, and harvest windows with growers so purchasing plans line up with buyer demand and cost targets.
• Seasonal supply planning: build forecasts for key produce lines and develop contract-grower arrangements that keep volume flowing through the months when local production dips.
• Pre-harvest field audits: inspect crops before picking to confirm farm practices meet Good Agricultural Practices, minimum residue limits, and customer specifications.
• Technical crop advisory: guide partner farmers on soil fertility and nutrition, pest and disease control, irrigation scheduling, and the right maturity indicators for harvest.
• Post-harvest loss reduction: train farmers and harvesting crews on picking technique, sorting, grading, and field-level cooling and packaging so shelf life is protected from the moment produce leaves the plant.
• Field-level quality checks: examine harvested lots before dispatch, measuring them against agreed weight, colour, size, and defect tolerances.
• Traceability and compliance: keep records that link each consignment back to its farm, plot, and harvest batch, and raise the alarm on pest or chemical-residue risks that could breach food safety or regulatory rules.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or diploma in agronomy, horticulture, agricultural economics, agriculture, or a closely related discipline.
• At least 3–5 years of hands-on experience in field agronomy, fresh produce sourcing, or commercial horticulture management.
• A demonstrated record of buying at farm level — negotiating with farmers and out-growers and managing supply of perishable fruits and vegetables.
• Solid technical grasp of pest and disease profiles in fruit and vegetable crops, harvest maturity indices, soil chemistry, and post-harvest handling.
• A valid driving or riding licence, plus genuine willingness to travel frequently to rural farms, agricultural zones, and packhouses.
• Strong negotiation, communication, and relationship-building ability with local farming communities.
• Integrity and the self-direction to work alone in remote field settings, with the problem-solving instinct to act fast when timelines are perishable.