We are recruiting for a manager to oversee an intensive farming nursery operation.
The ideal candidate will come from a commercial background with solid skills in producing fruit of exceptional quality.
**Duties:·**
– **Crop planning and scheduling** – Coordinating planting, propagation, and harvest schedules to meet market demand and rotation plans.
– **Team supervision and labour management** – Overseeing pickers, propagation staff, and seasonal workers, including rostering, training, and daily task allocation, often across peak/off-peak seasonal swings.
– **Irrigation and fertigation management** – Monitoring and adjusting watering and nutrient delivery systems (drip lines, fertigation rigs) to match crop stage and weather conditions.
– **Pest, disease, and IPM oversight** – Scouting for pests and disease, applying, or supervising integrated pest management protocols, and liaising with agronomists on treatment plans.
– **Quality control and grading** – Ensuring harvested fruit meets grading standards local and export markets.
– **Health and safety compliance** – Enforcing on-site safety protocols, PPE use, chemical handling procedures, and compliance with agricultural labour regulations.
– **Inventory and input management** – Tracking stock of substrates, fertilizers, plant stock, packaging, and consumables, and managing reordering.
– Yield and production record-keeping – Logging harvest volumes, tracking yield per plant/bed, and reporting on production performance against targets.
– **Equipment and infrastructure maintenance** – Overseeing upkeep of polytunnels, glasshouses, irrigation systems, and mechanical equipment by coordinating with maintenance staff).
– **Budget and cost control** – Managing a section of the operational budget, tracking labour and input costs against forecasts, and flagging variances to senior management.
– **Compliance and certification support** – Assisting with audits for standards like GlobalG.A.P., organic certification, or retailer-specific protocols (traceability, food safety documentation).
– **Liaison with senior management/agronomists** – Reporting on crop status, escalating issues, and feeding into broader site or company planning decisions.
**Requirements: ·**
– Qualification in Horticulture or Agriculture
– 3-5 years managing a Nursery, commercial preferably.
– Experience operating a Netajet/Netafim system.
– IPM experience
– Calibration of Knapsack experience
– Drivers and own vehicle
