Expert agronomist in fruit and vegetable crops
Function in a professional context:
- Manages fruit and vegetable production companies
- Produces production and economic estimations for farms in relation to insurance and banking aspects
- Provides evaluations and guidelines for local and international sales and marketing policies
- Provides specialistic technical consulting on various aspects of farm production
- Designs urban and peri-urban horticultural production systems
- Manages protected/hydroponic fruit and vegetable production systems
- Designs and manages nutrition and fertilisation strategies to optimise production and minimise environmental impacts.
Competencies associated to the function:
- Ability to design and manage crop production activities
- Ability to develop innovative and sustainable crop strategies able to maximise production efficiency and product quality
- Spirit of initiative, pro-active skills and autonomy
- Ability to work effectively andset priorities
- Ability to analyse and assess the costs and benefits of possible actions in order to make the most appropriate choices
- Problem-solving skills: gathering useful information to assess possible options, identify causes and effects, and make decisions
- Adaptability to different situations and problems
- Strong interpersonal skills to work with people from different cultural and professional contexts.
Career opportunities:
Companies operating in the fruit and vegetable supply chain, public and private practical and scientific experimental and information dissemination centres.
Expert agronomist in IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
Function in a professional context:
- Designs and manages integrated crop protection strategies in farms and agri-industrial systems owned by public agricultural institutions and private holdings
- Manages bodies monitoring the hygiene, health and quality of agricultural products.
Competencies associated to the function:
- Respecting the environment, the workers and consumers, designs and manages crop and foodstuff protection programmes, applying the most effective and sustainable techniques to prevent and cure diseases and infestations.
- Problem-solving skills: gathering useful information to assess possible options, identify causes and effects, and make decisions
- Ability to apply general rules to specific problems and demonstrate the possible solutions and utility of the available methods and tools
- Strong interpersonal skills to work with people from different cultural and professional contexts
- Adaptability to different situations and problems.
Career opportunities:
Companies operating in the fruit and vegetable supply chain, public and private practical and scientific experimental and information dissemination centres.
Expert agronomist in breeding
Function in a professional context:
- Designs and manages genetic improvement programmes
- Works in private companies, garden centres and public and private genetic improvement and practical and scientific experimentation centres.
Competencies associated to the function:
- Ability to analyse the relationships between phenotypes and genotypes to identify which genes are responsible for the desired features of crops
- Ability to develop molecular markers for the features of interest in order to establish strategies for assisted genetic improvement strategies
- Ability to prioritise the desired genetic features in order to select several phenotypical aspects at the same time
- Problem-solving skills: gathering useful information to assess possible options, identify causes and effects, and make decisions
- Ability to apply general rules to specific problems and demonstrate the possible solutions and utility of the available methods and tools
- Strong interpersonal skills to work with people from different cultural and professional contexts
- Adaptability to different situations and problems
- Performs biotechnological activities to optimise the productive and reproductive efficiency of agricultural organisms.
Career opportunities:
Companies in the fruit and vegetable supply chain, garden centres and public and private centres for genetic improvement and practical and scientific experimentation.
Expert agronomist in fruit and vegetable supply chain management
Function in a professional context:
- Defines and manages supply chain and business strategies for marketing and enhancing the quality and sustainability of production.
Competencies associated to the function:
- Ability to analyse and interpret economic data in different parts of the supply chain
- Ability to design and manage more effective strategies to increase the sustainability of productions while minimising costs and waste
- Ability to analyse marketdemands, forecasting and managing effective product enhancement strategies
- Problem-solving skills: gathering useful information to assess possible options, identify causes and effects, and make decisions
- Ability to apply general rules to specific problems and demonstrate the possible solutions and utility of the available methods and tools
- Strong interpersonal skills to work with people from different cultural and professional contexts
- Adaptability to different situations and problems.
Career opportunities:
- Agri-food businesses (farms,wholesalers, processing companies)
- Cooperatives and consortia
- Trade associations
- Large scale retailsector/modern distribution companies
- Agro-industrial services companies
- Freelance activities.
