Agricultural Business Development: Dairy Specialist

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Agricultural Business Development: Dairy Specialist
Los Banos, CA The Company
The Morning Star Company and its affiliates operate three tomato processing facilities in Central California, processing 35% to 40% of the California processing tomato crop, in addition to tomato transplanting, harvesting and trucking operations. The company employs approximately 400 year-round and 2,000 seasonal colleagues and annual sales of approximately $1 billion.
The Morning Star Company is the largest independent producer of bulk tomato ingredient products (tomato paste and diced tomatoes) in the world. We also produce canned tomatoes, tomato products and specialty sauces in pouches for customers in the retail and food service markets. The company is known worldwide for its innovation and integrity.
We are organizationally structured through a system we term Mission Focused Self- Management™. Our company is operated by colleagues without titles or an appointed hierarchy of authority. Authority relative to other colleagues’ activities is lateral, with our Mission as our guiding principle of action, and respect, influence and success built based on each colleague’s integrity, competency, effort, persistence, and straightforward persuasiveness. Although we have grown significantly, we intend to maintain a culture of individual responsibility and self-management.

The Opportunity
The Mission of this colleague will be to establish and maintain mutually beneficial, professional relationships with tomato growers, dairies, and other agriculturalists for the purchasing and selling of farm products and services.
This position is ideal for someone with successful experience in sales, purchasing and building long-term, successful business relationships, especially in agriculture.

Our mission, with respect to the grower community, is to make Morning Star the “growing partner of choice” – able to work with any grower in the community on terms that enable both parties to meet their needs in a professional, business-like way.
Responsibilities and Activities

• Contracting with growers for the purchase of tomatoes required by Morning Star’s processing plants to meet the enterprise pack plan.
• Selling agricultural services, including: the sale of transplants, transplanting, harvesting and other customer grower services.
• Coordinating the transplanting, harvesting, and delivery schedule of tomatoes in a timely, efficient, and profitable manner.
• Build active market knowledge in assigned non-tomato crop portfolios
• Identify challenges and opportunities in non-tomato crops
• Work with others to negotiate and contract with growers, specifying pricing, tonnage, and other terms and conditions for the purchase of tomatoes and the sale of transplants and transplanting and harvesting services.
• Perform ongoing grower performance analysis and apply that knowledge to business decisions.
• Maintain up-to-date and accurate grower contract databases, as well as field attributes for contracted tomato fields, such as fertilizer and water and other chemical applications, plant spacing and density, etc.
• Network and cultivate industry and grower contacts to help fulfill personal and commercial missions.
• Monitor the performance of transplants during the growing season as needed to satisfy relationships with transplant customers.
• Forward pertinent information to appropriate colleagues, in order to keep our processes flowing.

Knowledge, Talent and Experience Requirements

• A track record of excellent results in a negotiating role with growers in the processed or fresh produce food industries. Professional purchasing/selling experience is an absolute requirement for this position.
• Notable experience or expertise in the dairy industry, with an understanding of the economics that drive decision making.
• Personable, relationship/trust building personality, while able to keep a professional attitude toward the relationship.
• Know, or learn quickly, tomato varieties, growing technology, climate impacts and tomato processing issues as they relate to varieties and maturity.
• Willing to work long hours and weekends during harvest and transplanting.
• Excellent listening and communications skill, written and oral.
• Understands, enjoys and is very good at the game of business.
• Excellent analytical skill.
• Substantial expertise with Excel, Word and other related applications.
• Patient, but persistent in getting results.
• Decisive and self-driven.

Compensation: Salary will be $100,000-$150,000 annually. 

Benefits:  Morning Star offers a top-tier, comprehensive health plan, including medical, dental, and vision, and we pay the full monthly premiums for the Colleague  and all eligible family members . The company also contributes to Colleagues' Health Savings Accounts. Year-round Colleagues are eligible to enroll in our 401K plan, with 4% match. 

Additional Information
All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. The Morning Star Company and its affiliates participate in E-Verify. 

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