Houweling's Group, is a family owned, world-renowned greenhouse vegetable grower with farms in Camarillo, CA, Delta, BC and Mona, UT. As a leader and innovator in the state of the art, sustainable greenhouse farming industry, the company continues to focus on year-round, locally grown produce, as consumers continue to prove a desire and willing to purchase local. In addition to greenhouse tomato and cucumber growing, the company operates a state of the art seedling propagation division and full service logistics department, offering vertical integration from seed through to delivery at our customers.
The key role of the Corporate Grower is to provide corporate oversight at all growing locations. This will be achieved by driving formal management processes through the growing team, liaising with all growing staff and having a dialogue around growing recommendations that phase growers can act on. Establishing training plans for growing and assistant growing staff to facilitate professional development and drafting a bi-weekly update report to the President and CEO with action items and areas for improvement.
Team Management
- Establish growers, assistant growers, pest department staff member job descriptions.
- Working with phase growers to properly interview and vet all new growing hires.
- Provide training to growers and assistant growers.
- Establish performance goals (KPI’s)/objectives for the growers and assistant growers.
- Review the goals/objectives with the growers and assistant growers on a period basis.
- Enforce policies and procedures within the growing and pest departments, including issuing performance evaluations and managing hiring’s and terminations in collaboration with HR.
Crop Forecasting
- Manage the growers to ensure that they are following the processes for crop forecasting.
Crop Monitoring
- Manage the growers to ensure that they are following the processes to monitor and report on.
- plant growth and plant balance and those factors that influence production and plant health such as: fertilizer, irrigation, CO2 dosage, climatic conditions: temperature, total light, and etc.
- Develop and implement growing strategies to optimize plant balance and production based on crop quality and climatic conditions.
- Ensure growers have growing plans in place to optimize yields, plant balance, and plant health.
- Monitor production and product quality.
Grower Development
- Establish a professional development program using a combination of in-house expertise and outside experts, with a goal of improving our in house growing expertise. Topics to include greenhouse specific training in plant physiology, plant pathology, plant pests (entomology) and best practice growing techniques.
- Help provide mentorship and training to the assistant growers, either directly or working through their related grower.
Pest Department Development
- Establish a professional development program with the Pest Manager to ensure the role is up to date with all required certifications, techniques.
- Along with growing team ensure professional development includes training in plant pathology and plant pests (entomology).
Interplant Responsibilities
- Manage the phase growers to ensure they are prepared for inter-planting periods. This includes vacation and training blackouts.
Chemicals and Bees/Bios
- Sign off on ordering of Fertilizers, Chemicals and Bees/Bios for Delta, Oxnard and Utah facility.
Labor (Growers)
- Review Priva Error report and provide guidance to growing team on how to minimize labor plan errors.
- Monitor crop labor activities and provide recommendations in bi-weekly consulting report.
- Sign off on crop metrics that affect labor rates such as densities, head and stem counts.
Crop Plans
- As part of the Management Team, provide input regarding the development of the annual crop plans.
Budgets
- Attend bi-weekly crop planning meeting and provide guidance to team on planting dates and yield curves.
These core competencies are required for the ideal candidate
- Communication
- High energy
- Team work
- Quality orientation
- Time management
- Adaptability/Flexibility
- Creative and innovative thinker
- Decision making and judgment
- Planning and organizing
- Problem solving
- Result focus
- Mediating and negotiating
- Providing consultation
- Leadership
- Coaching and mentoring
- Staff management
- Mathematical reasoning
- Post-secondary education in horticulture or related field.
- 10 years of growing experience, with no less than 5 years being head grower of site.
- 5 years of greenhouse vegetable growing experience.
- Experience managing a team of 3 or more individuals.
- Familiar with Priva and Argus climate computer systems.
- Familiar with Priva Fusion labor tracking computer systems.
- Familiar with Microsoft Office.