Askep Crop Nutrition

As Askep Crop Nutrition, you report to the Head of Crop Nutrition. Working with international consultants, commercial service providers and an increasing internal capacity, the role will be responsible for designing and overseeing soil sampling surveys testing for soil physical properties to inform drainage requirements and farm planning for new production areas, and a routine soil and leaf tissue sampling program for nutrient management planning.

Crop fertilization strategies at Merauke Sugar Group (MSG) are based on the ‘6 Easy Steps’ system used in Australia. It is optimized for sugar productivity rather than maximum cane yield and features lower nitrogen rates than traditionally used in the Indonesian industry. Soil amelioration products and fertilizer rates are based on soil testing results and fine-tuned using elemental analysis of leaf tissue. Initially using commercial service providers this will be insourced following commissioning of a dedicated analytical laboratory at the Sermayam site. The role includes responsibility for managing soil composition testing and generating nutrient management planning recommendations across multiple MSG farms following the ‘6 Easy Steps’ guidelines. The role will also serve as a key internal problem solver for soil science and agronomy related questions, including soil health, fertilizer, water quality, etc, and support GPA’s Head of Crop Nutrition in accomplishing overall program goals. The role will have a mix of field, laboratory and office-based work and includes supervision of assistant soil agronomists across multiple locations. Training will be provided with support from in-house sugarcane expertise.

Job Descriptions:

1. Development of the annual fertilizer recommendations used by Procurement and the Agricutlure departments to schedule timely purchasing and application of fertiliser products to maximise sugar production.

2. Contribute to departmental budget development, expenditure monitoring and cost control.

3. Manage soil surveys to establish soil physical properties and nutritional properties.

4. Manage EM mapping surveys to generate EM maps.

5. Review and summarize data from the mill to examine variety performance x agronomic management x environmental variables.

6. Manage trials with ameliorants and mill byproducts to determine suitability and application requirements for use in Merauke.

7. Manage trials with break crops for fallow management to determine suitability and application requirements for use in Merauke.

8. Develop and maintain SOPs for soil sampling and fertilizing QA/QC.

9. Make a significant contribution to report production and technical communication of recommendations to each Agriculture department.

10. Support internal business processes for the Crop Nutrition department such as work reports, timesheets.

Requirements:

1. You have masters’ degree in Soil Science, Agronomy, Environmental Science or closely related field.

2. You have at least five years of professional experience in a relevant agricultural field, preferably with experience with sugarcane.

3. Knowledge and experience of sugarcane production, agronomy and nutrition and how these factors interact in environments with annual rainfall of at least 2m (areas like Merauke), is desirable.

4. Comprehensive understanding of large-scale soil sampling strategies and techniques across diverse geographic regions.

5. Ability to interpret soil compositional analysis and generate fertiliser recommendations.

6. Experience with relevant software tools for data processing and statistical analysis, such as R, Python, ArcGIS, etc.

7. Ability to clearly communicate through different formats (verbal, written) soil science and agronomic concepts to a broad range of audiences.

8. Ability to work in a fast-moving environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

9. Collaborative, with a proactive approach to problem solving.