• A well-established beverage manufacturer is seeking an experienced Agronomy Manager to lead a team of rainfed barley Agronomist in South Africa to ensure malting barley supply security from the region to the company’s processing facilities and a constant supply of high quality, locally grown malting barley by consulting barley producers and industry stakeholders.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• Must have a B. Sc. (Hons) in Agronomy, Crop Production, Plant Breeding, Agri-Economics, or related field with field crops experience
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in agronomy as well as experience working in seed
• Technical knowledge in overall cropping system, agronomy, seed production and data generation for field crops with a specific focus on Malting Barley is essential
• Must have a proven-track record of demonstrating the business impact of improvements to agronomic practices
• Technical knowledge of production of crop in Irrigation, soils science, seed, crop management [Crop protection, PGR’s] is essential
• Must be willing to travel extensively in production areas (80% of the time)
• Work extended hours when required
• Fluency in Afrikaans and English

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

• Ensuring the right seed quantity, variety, and quality at the right place and right time in accordance with the Barley Variety Steerco.
• Demonstrating expert knowledge of the primary agronomic cropping systems in all regions’ where malting barley is cultivated, including Canola, Wheat, Oats, Lupins, and Cover Crops.
• Serving as a domain specialist to all regional agronomists in areas such as fertilization and soil management, pest and disease management, planting density, optimization of crop inputs, digital agriculture, and alternative rotational crops.
• Leading regional agronomists to drive execution, strategy, priorities, and actions for supply security of malting barley in each sub-region.
• Bringing balance between improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of barley operations from seed to sip.
• Providing input and driving the implementation of our sustainability strategy and regenerative agriculture programs.
• Building effective partnerships with all regional procurement and global agronomy stakeholders, crop subject matter experts, and external experts to deliver high-quality malting barley.
• Promoting a safe work environment and a strong safety culture.
• Maintaining a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
• Developing and delivering regular updates to internal stakeholders and governance bodies regarding the status and progress of the crop and contracting with Co-Ops.
• Ensuring the identification, assessment, and management of key risks in our production environments.
• Maintaining effective communication and interaction with collaboration partners to ensure execution of short-term plans and to support alignment of long-term strategy for our collaborations.