Head Agronomist

Job Location: Aleksa Šantić, Serbia

Company description

Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella®, Tic Tac®, Ferrero Rocher®, Raffaello®, Kinder Bueno® and Kinder Surprise®. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 40,000  dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of. Join us, and you could be one of them.

Diversity Statement

Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.

About the Role:

Created in 2015, Ferrero Hazelnut Company (HCo), a division of the Ferrero Group, brings all of Ferrero’s hazelnut activities together under one structure to drive quality and innovation.

Agriserbia is a subsidiary of Ferrero Hazelnut Company (HCo), dedicated to the promotion and development of modern hazelnut supply chains in Serbia and the neighbouring Balkan countries.

Founded in 2014, Agriserbia has so far led to the establishment of a 600-hectare hazelnut grove in Aleksa Santic, a nursery to produce hazelnut saplings and the creation of a network of direct growers in several Serbian regions, totalling approximately 4,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards. In neighbouring countries, mainly Romania and North Macedonia, HCo’s promotional activity has contributed to the development of additional 4,000 hectares of hazelnut groves.

AgriSerbia is supporting the implementation of the HCo hazelnut development strategy in the Balkans, by providing to farmers and investors technical advice to develop new hazelnut groves and to structuring the related supply chains.

The Head Agronomist is responsible to plan and manage all technical and agronomic related activities of AgriSerbia, both within the own farm and nursery of Aleksa Santic and in the framework of the advisory services provided to external stakeholders.

The Head Agronomist reports to the General Manager of AgriSerbia and collaborates closely with the other Line Managers of AgriSerbia. The position also reports to HCo Agribusiness department of HCo and the Agricultural Competence Centre (ACC) on specific technical issues.

Main Responsibilities:

Owngrowing: managing AgriSerbia Orchards and Nursery
Outgrowing: technical support to hazelnut growers in Serbia and other Balkan countries involved in the HCo hazelnut development strategy
Training and extension: ensure that any document/information material produced by Agri Serbia is in line with technical standards and policies of HCo
R&D: close coordination with HCo ACC for all R&D program planning and implementation
Hazelnut Quality: until the establishment of a Quality position in AgriSerbia, the Head Agronomist acts as Quality Manager of the Hazelnut during the harvesting period.

1. Agrifarms/Owngrowing

Planning and budgeting (annual agronomic management plan of the farm and the nursery);
Contributes to the preparation of procurement plans (agricultural inputs and machinery);
Contributes to the preparation of scheduling agricultural operations, ensures rigorous quality control, and formulate operational and technical recommendations to improve the efficiency and quality of operations
Ensures rigorous monitoring of the phytopathological and physiological parameters of the orchard and nursery (interventions if necessary)
Investigations on new products and/or alternative agronomic techniques in order to improve agronomic management
Coordinates all activities for obtaining and maintaining certifications for the farm (SGS standards, etc..).

2. Agribusiness Development/Outgrowing

Contributes to the outgrowing development by coordinating all activities related to technical support to farmers:

Planning and supervision of technical visits to orchards (agronomic team and external services), organization and supervision of orchard monitoring activities and production forecasting
Contribution to the organization of the harvesting season and development of external harvesting facilities and the planning of quality and inbound operations
Carry out support visits to large investors in Serbia and abroad (mainly in Romania), to ensure a technical and strategic support to the hazelnut sector development in line with the HCo de-risking strategy

3. Training and Extension

In close coordination with the ACC of HCo, develops training programs for outgrowers and supervise their implementation
Ensures adequate training of all ArgiSerbia personnel involved in agronomic and business management activities.

4. Research and Development

Planning, designing and implementing of AgriSerbia R&D programs, in close coordination with the ACC of HCo:

Works with the local teams to identify possible research topics to propose to the ACC
Manages research activities carried out directly by AgriSerbia personnel or through outsourced service providers or research institutes (strong collaboration);
Ensures rigorous reporting on all R&D.

5. Hazelnut Quality

Close coordination of updating Quality policies and methodologies (plans activities and trainings);
Planning of harvesting season (organization and structuring of the analysis laboratory, sampling, external reception centres, etc.)
Preparing and managing the budget for the quality
Coordination of all activities related to the qualitative evaluation of the hazelnut delivered to the drying and collection centre and of the hazelnut batches sent to the customers 

DUTY STATION AND TRAVELS: The Head Agronomist will be based at the head office of AgriSerbia, at Aleksa Santic Farm. The candidate shall be available for extensive travelling in Serbia and in neighbouring Countries (Romania, North Macedonia, etc..)

Who we are looking for:

PROFILE:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent
• Proven experience related to the cultivation in the nursery and orchard – preferably in hazelnut production or similar fruit crops
• Consolidated experience in setting-up and managing technical support services to farmers and to develop efficient agricultural value-chains
• Experience in managing people based on Group values, motivation, diversity & inclusion, competence development and empowerment
• Ability to make decisions and identify priorities, strong analytical and organizational skills
• Communicative, creative and inventive person

IT SKILLS:
•    Good skills in MS-Office applications, advantage is SAP user

LANGUAGES:
•    Fluent in Serbian;
•    Strong verbal/written communication skills in English

How to be successful in the role and at Ferrero:

Consumers, quality and care are at the heart of everything we do. So, to be successful at Ferrero, you’ll need to be just as consumer and product centric as we are - dedicated to crafting brilliant results for consumers around the world.