Agronomist (Maize and Precision Farming)

About the Unit

Yara Africa Fertilizer (Pty) Ltd. has an opportunity for an Agronomist to join their team.  The successful candidate will be responsible to improve the performance, image and service of the company by providing specialized technical services to the sales team and customers in Northern Region by focusing on the following topics:  Crop Production and nutrition, marketing support and training, new products and concepts.

This position is based in the Highveld Region (Northern Region) of South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Integrating specialized knowledge of Plant Nutrition, Crop production and Soil Science to pro-actively act on market needs and technical advances.
• Provide excellent plant nutritional service and support to sales force and customers to ensure optimum crop health and production in the targeted crop segments.
• Support sales force and customers with Fertilizer recommendations and crop advice.
• Do the plant nutritional recommendations in terms of products, quantities, application and timing based on soil analysis and according to industry norms and Yara guidelines.
• Farm visits and field inspections to customers in his designated area.
• Attend agricultural/farmer’s days/events and give technical inputs/presentations.
• Develop the technical abilities of the sales force (Agronomic training).
• Specialized knowledge of Precision Ag platforms , GIS software, Plant Nutrition, Crop production and Soil Science to pro-actively act on market needs and technical advances.
• Provide excellent digital service and support to sales force and customers to ensure optimal usage of digital platform for crop health and production in the targeted crop segments.
• Support sales force and customers with digital recommendations and crop advice.
• Attend agricultural/farmer’s days/events and give technical inputs/presentations.
• Develop the technical abilities of the sales force (Digital training).

Responsibilities (Continued)

• Align and prioritize activities with the local Yara commercial strategy.
• Communication and synergy with local commercial management regarding designated area’s commercial goals.
• Communication and synergy with local operational/general management regarding operational/general issues.
• Build and maintain excellent customer relationships and –service (internal and external).
• Marketing/promoting of Yara’s differentiated products and supporting sales force to increase sales of these products.
• Marketing/promoting of Yara OPP products (YaraVera, YaraVita, YaraLiva and YaraRega) and supporting sales force to increase sales of these products.
• Marketing/promoting the use of Yara Tools among sales force and customers. (AllFarm, N-tester, Check-it, Tank mix etc).
• Use knowledge of plant nutrition as well as company’s products to produce and update product manuals, promotional articles and other technical promotional material (e.g. crop leaflets).
• Market and promote new products and concepts.
• Investigate Customer complaints/claims and produce a technical report according to internal Yara guidelines and management’s requests.

Qualifications and Experience

• • B.Sc. Agric. degree with majors in relevant disciplines (Agronomy/Soil Science)-Postgraduate qualification will be beneficial/recommended.
  • Excellent understanding of geographic information system (GIS) technology and spatial data
  • Registered Professional Natural Scientist. SACNASP
  • 8 - 10 years' experience in similar role/environment.
  • Adequate English and Afrikaans language skills are essential.
  • Proficient computer skills (Microsoft Office).

Contact details

Apply no later than 03 January 2025