Certified Seed Field Technician

Overview

Utah Crop Improvement Association and Utah State University seek an individual to represent Utah Crop Improvement Association in Northern Utah and surrounding areas by assisting in and promoting the seed certification program and assisting seed farmers and conditioners in production of high-quality certified seed.

• Vehicle will be provided by employer but occasional use of personal vehicle may be needed (mileage reimbursed).
• A Flexible work schedule is needed with concentration of workload during planting, seed harvest, and seed processing seasons. Workload will average out to about 10-30 hours/ week annually (75% time).
• Major workload will be during the months of June, July, and August.
• Work hours and responsibilities can be highly variable to match the applicant’s schedule as a student or other employment or interests.

Location - Northern UT, Box Elder and Cache Counties and surrounding area.

Responsibilities

Assist with work in Certified Seed Program for Utah.

 

Seed Certification – 75% of time

• Seed field and farm equipment inspection
• Inspect and accurately determine plant variety characteristics for genetic purity, and crop quality factors in certified seed production fields to meet certification standards.
• Applicant will need to identify each of the major crop kinds, rangeland plants, and weeds
• Inspect wildland seed collection sites and identify rangeland plants and yield potential.
• Assist seed producers and seed conditioners in producing certified seed lots to meet certification standards.
• Some travel throughout the Western United States will be needed.
• Assist with maintaing utahcrop.org website
• Some general office work related to seed certification and production reporting will be required.

Foundation Seed – 25 % of time

• Assist in foundation seed production, allocation and distribution
• Maintain, manage, and produce foundation seed from multiple sources including production on UAES farms
• Track, monitor, ship and invoice foundation seed distributions and inventory.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

This position will be hired at either the Research Technician I, II or III level based on qualifications and duties assigned. 

• Research Technician I
  • Six months work related experence and/or related educational programs in agriculture.
• Research Technician II
  • Two years of experience or an associate degree/vocational training.
• Research Technician III
  • Four years of experience; or an associate degree plus two years of experience; or a bachelor’s degree; or an equivalent combination of education plus experience.

For all levels:

• Experience in production agriculture, preferably small grains, alfalfa seed, grass seed, and other forb and shrub seed production.
• Experience in farm machinery operation and repair, weed control, fertility, and crop irrigation for seed production.
• Applicant will need to learn to identify and recognize differences in crop varieties, weeds, genetic off-types, and diseases that potentially contaminate seed crops.
• Good personal and communication skills to work with, understand, and resolve concerns with farmers and other agriculturalists and seedsmen.
• Applicant will also be expected to learn to correctly identify reclamation plants and seeds on wildland sites.
• Applicant must also be self-motivated and willing to work alone.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong farming background.
• College credits or a degree in an agricultural crop production with some experience or knowledge of Agronomy and/or rangeland science related fields.
• Some computer experience and personal communication skills are preferred and will be beneficial.

Required Documents

Along with the online application, please attach:

Resume/CV to be uploaded at the beginning of your application in the Candidate Profile under “Resume/CV"

Cover letter to be typed/pasted at the end of your application

**Document size may not exceed 10 MB.**

Advertised Salary

$15-20 per hour DOE

ADA

The environment and physical requirements may change depending on the specific function of the work each department performs. Incumbents may be in both indoor and outdoor environments. Indoors, in an office space, event space, or public space are protected from weather conditions, but not necessarily from temperature changes. Incumbents may nearly continuously sit and often use repetitive hand motion (suc