76 Head Grower jobs in the United States

Overview

As a Head Grower, you will play a crucial role in the cultivation and production of a variety of tropical ornamental crops. You will be responsible for overseeing the entire cultivation process, from seed to harvest, ensuring optimal growth and the production of high-quality plants. Your expertise in horticulture, plant biology, and cultivation techniques will be essential in maintaining a successful and efficient growing operation. The Head Grower's role is to also lead the locations team of growers and assistant growers with the objective of delivering quality crops and trials on time to meet customer's needs. The Head Grower is expected to follow and apply Health, Safety, & Environment and Stewardship practices, as well as to provide feedback to the operations manager with the functional activities of the crop.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the growing team in cultivation of all crops including marketing trials, breeding trials, field trials, and elite greenhouse activities
• Solve production problems and deliver optimal crop growing conditions with a focus on producing the highest quality plants possible of lower loss possible.
• Support the team in critical growing knowledge acquisition, recording, and application including propagation, transplanting, irrigation, fertilizer, plant growth regulator application, plant maintenance, insect and disease management.
• Learn and understand all the site's trials and adapt growing culture for the unique goals that each trial has
• Ensure an effective IPM program is in place and maintained through the site
• Screening field trials to identify, remedy and/or prevent pest and diseases
• Interpret media and plant nutrient testing results to solve plant growth challenges and optimize growing conditions for each crop
• Align growing protocols for each specific trial and crop with the pre-set quality standards as set by the stakeholders (breeders, marketing team, starter material team etc).
• Regular communication with trial stakeholders regarding progress, deviations, and challenges
• Work closely with operations and planning, utilizing IT tools (e.g., Netsuite and SPPS) to review weekly work schedules based on tasks that need to be executed by growers.
• Work with operations and planning to prioritize actions based on plant growth and cultural needs
• Provide the growing team guidance on climate control settings (temperature, humidity, day length and assimilation lighting) and the frequency of watering, fertilization, and crop protection strategy
• Comparing crop yield/performance with soil test data, chemical application patterns, or other information to develop (site-specific) crop management plans
• Monitor and enforce data collection regarding plant health or performance
• Maintain room for exploration and out of the box breeding and thinking
• Guiding leaders and employees in the specific department in cultivation activities, so that the work is carried out in a proper technical way
• Together with the team and stakeholders, conduct cultivation evaluations and make sure that improvements and findings from those evaluations are being included in the growing protocols
• Ensure all HSE and phytosanitary protocols are followed and enforced by the growing and operation teams
• Performing all tasks and behaving in a manner compliant with and in support of all safety and stewardship related company policies and practices, including completing all required company training courses and attending local safety meetings.
• Effectively communicating with peers and supervisor regarding the status of projects and work activities.
• Ensure site compliance with the county's pesticide use regulations and reporting
• Other duties that may arise

Qualifications

• Understanding of plant physiology and growing techniques.
• Experience growing potted floral plants in a greenhouse environment desirable
• Ability to use MS Office, especially Word and Excel, and other standard software.
• Ability to learn and use proprietary systems for label printing and inventory management.
• Must be able to work in a team and communicate with individuals throughout the organization.
• Excellent communication skills and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to use professional concepts and company policies and procedures to solve a wide range of problems in practical ways.
• Ability and motivation to learn new technologies.
• Ability to use and understand greenhouse control hardware and software.
• Minimum B.S. degree in horticulture, biological sciences, botany, genetics, agriculture, crop science, or plant science is required.
• Clear understanding of the practices and procedures that affect trial data precision and accuracy.
• At least 5 years greenhouse growing experience and technical expertise in floriculture crop production. R&D experience is a plus.
• At least 4 years of experience building and leading a growing team in a production or research and development role
• Experience in horticulture practices in greenhouse and field
• Must have experience applying pesticides and a PCA and/or CCA license, or the ability to acquire within 6 months after hire.
• Experience with IPM (Integrated Pest Management)

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $60, $70,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) 3% Match
• 401(k) matching
• Life insurance

Work Location: In person