Vacancies

Director Regenerative Agriculture

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) plays an important role towards the transformation of food systems through the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. It brings together over 160 members from the food and beverage industry, including farmer cooperatives, manufacturers, processors and retailers. Affiliate members include agricultural input providers, support services, assurance schemes providers, as well as other industries that source agricultural products. 

SAI Platform’s Regenerative Agriculture Programme is a recently launched industry flagship initiative to drive the conversion of the agricultural sector towards the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. The programme will help guide, measure and enable regenerative agriculture outcomes, with the objective of helping farmers to overcome the challenges they face in the implementation and scaling of solutions. 

The position

We are recruiting a Regenerative Agriculture Director. This is an exciting role and a unique opportunity for a high calibre individual with a proven track record to lead and further shape the platform’s regenerative agriculture programme. The solutions that SAI Platform develops will ultimately shape the  sourcing standards of the food and beverage industry. Given SAI Platform’s scope and breath, the Regenerative Agriculture Director is probably one of the most influential positions in the food supply chain today. 

Candidate profile:

• An agronomist/ environmental scientist with extensive experience in sourcing of agricultural raw materials and value chain development. 

• Experienced in implementing soil, biodiversity, water management practices and precision agriculture technology.

• A decisive results achiever: effective in both corporate and multi-stakeholder environments and thriving in this complex playing field.

• A strong team leader, excited by, and comfortable with managing a dispersed team.  

• Business-oriented and pragmatic with a clear understanding of the needs of diverse stakeholders.

• Native or near-native level English speaker with excellent verbal and written skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide effective development and leadership of SAI Platform’s Regenerative Agriculture Programme.

• Ensure connection and integration of existing SAI Platform programmes and industry solutions for dairy, beef and crops.

• Further develop the regenerative agriculture strategy, growth plan, business model and resourcing plan building.

• Build stakeholder engagement and commitment, share insights, manage expectations.

• Work with members to initiate and develop regenerative agriculture projects that the working groups commit to undertake.

• Manage external consultants and service providers effectively and cost-consciously.

• Further establish and optimise evaluating and reporting mechanisms to monitor and share progress.

• Ensure strong governance of process and budget with related tracking and reporting.

• Ensure excellent communications on plans and progress with both internal and external stakeholders.

Download the job description for the full vacancy profile.