Reference: 18029953

About Syngenta Flowers

Syngenta Flowers is one of the largest wholesale breeders of flowers in the world – developing and producing flower seeds and cuttings for growers internationally. Syngenta Flowers is dedicated to the breeding of innovative flower varieties that offer outstanding performance in the professional greenhouse, at retail, in the landscape, and in the home garden. In addition to best-in-class genetics, we support industry professionals with outstanding customer service, in-depth cultural information, flexible and exciting marketing programs, and a deep understanding of plants from many points of view.

About Us

At Syngenta, we are working to build the most collaborative and trusted team in agriculture that provides leading seeds and crop protection innovations to enhance the prosperity of farmers. We are currently seeking a Grower Leader in our Gilroy, CA location for our Flowers Business.

You will enhance the prosperity of farmers by:

• Leading the growing of various crops in support of breeding, product development, research trialing, marketing, and elite stock plant maintenance for Flowers R&D
• Working in collaboration with other members of the growing team to implement growing protocols, communicate with trial requesters, and ensure trials are grown according to plan
• Supervising and displaying excellent Leadership skills in leading a team to execute growing activities

Accountabilities

• Responsible for all aspects of growing and plant quality of assigned crops and trials grown at the Syngenta Flowers Gilroy site in close cooperation with breeding, trialing, and marketing teams
• Guide and direct the growing process for crops including propagation, transplanting, irrigation, fertilizer, plant growth regulator application, plant maintenance, insect and disease management, and crop scheduling
• Supervise Growing Technicians, Growers, and Assistant Growers who are responsible to support growing tasks (transplanting, irrigation, plant maintenance, chemical applications, pot filling, spacing, plant movement, greenhouse maintenance, etc.)
• Utilize computer tools to create weekly work schedules based on tasks that need to be executed to grow trials
• Solve production problems and deliver optimal crop growing conditions with a focus on producing the highest quality plants possible
• Program the greenhouse environmental control computer and optimize the greenhouse environment per crop requirements
• Proactively monitor and scout plants for early detection of insects, diseases, and viruses. Develop an integrated pest management strategy
• Interpret media and plant nutrient testing results to solve production problems and optimize growing conditions for each crop
• Ensure all HSES and phytosanitary protocols are implemented, followed, and enforced
• Contribute and update internal growing protocols, procedures, processes and work instructions based on learnings from production experiences.
• Train and advise others on best production practices, new technical learnings, and crop maintenance techniques
• Collaborate with trial owners to write crop culture schedules and ensure any updates are made in the production scheduling tool
• Maintain and update crop activity records, documents, chemical application logs, etc.
• Lead weekly greenhouse crop production walks with trial owners, breeders, and growing team to ensure trials are grown according to schedule and making corrective actions 
• Participate in breeding delivery teams as a representative from the Growing team to ensure crop schedules and plant quality meet specifications
• Communicate with trial owners on the status of crops including plant quality, actions, scheduling, issues, etc.
• Provide knowledge exchange with other departments (e.g., Sales, Technical Services, Marketing, Supply Chain, etc.) to ensure the latest growing information is shared among teams
• Participate in external training and workshops (e.g., conferences, tradeshows, etc.) to learn new growing ideas and maintain expertise in floriculture crop production
• As duties assigned.

Qualifications

Requirements

• B.S. degree in horticulture, biological sciences, botany, genetics, agriculture, crop science, or plant science is required.
• At least 3 years greenhouse growing experience and technical expertise in floriculture crop production
• Capable of solving production problems and implementing new growing ideas
• Experience applying chemicals to plants
• Ability to obtain a California pesticide applicators license
• Experience in horticulture practices in greenhouse and field
• Proficient in basic computer programs (e.g., Excel, Word, Outlook, SharePoint, Power Point, etc.)

What We Offer:

• Full Benefit Package (Medical, Dental & Vision) that starts the same day you do
• 401k plan with company match, Profit Sharing & Retirement Savings Contribution
• Paid Vacation, 12 Paid Holidays, Maternity and Paternity Leave, Education Assistance, Wellness Programs, Corporate Discounts among others
• A culture that promotes work/life balance, celebrates diversity and offers numerous family-oriented events throughout the year

Application

Please click HERE to learn more and to apply online.

Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.