Horticulturist - Berry Farms, Far North Queensland

About the role

Costa's Berry Category operates berry farms across Australia, with its Far North Queensland operations supported by experienced farming, horticultural and technical teams. This is a permanent full-time, field-based role reporting to the Horticulture Manager, focused on crop health, pest and disease management, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), nutrition, irrigation, crop vigour and yield. The role suits someone who enjoys working in the crop and turning technical information into practical recommendations.

Key responsibilities

• Monitor crop health, nutrition, irrigation, pests and diseases, growth stages and pollination across farms
• Lead and implement IPM strategies, using scouting data to time pest and disease control
• Coordinate and support farm scouts, including training and consistent field data collection
• Schedule spray requests based on field scouting and crop needs
• Assist with horticultural trials and improvement programs
• Analyse and share monitoring, trial and crop performance findings with farm teams
• Keep chemical and IPM programs within seasonal budgets
• Work with the Horticulture Manager to identify risks to crop health and yield

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Horticulture or equivalent
• Commercial horticultural production experience, ideally berries or other high-value crops
• Ability to interpret field and crop data and travel regularly between FNQ farms
• Current driver's licence
• Willingness to work flexibly during peak periods, including early starts and occasional weekends

Required skills

• Crop scouting, pest and disease identification and IPM
• Crop nutrition and irrigation in soil and/or substrate systems
• Chemical labels, permits, withholding periods, MRLs and mode-of-action rotation
• Current chemical accreditation (e.g. ChemCert or AQF Level 3) or willingness to obtain it
• Advantageous: field trial experience, beneficial insects, tropical/subtropical IPM, and food safety systems such as Freshcare or GLOBALG.A.P.

What we offer

• Permanent full-time employment with hands-on technical experience across crop health, nutrition, irrigation, pest and disease management and IPM
• Variety across multiple farms on the Atherton Tablelands, with field trials and monitoring programs
• A practical field-based role with a full IT kit
• Paid parental leave: up to 14 weeks for eligible primary carers and 6 weeks for eligible secondary carers