Job Description
Posting Start Date:  7/10/25
Offer ID:  1132
Unit:  Vilmorin-Mikado
Job Title:  Product development technician
Job Location:  Santa Maria
Contract type:  Temporary
Job Description: 

Main Goal

Product Development Intern provides support for the advancement of experimental crop varieties as they progress toward commercial status.  This position is responsible for planning and executing the External Trials for the Company’s breeding programs including Brassica, Lettuce, Baby Leaf Greens, and Wild Rocket in the production regions of Santa Maria/Oxnard, CA. The position is based in Santa Maria, CA.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

  • Seed Management:

    • Manage and maintain accurate inventory of all breeder-allocated seed for external trials.

    • Track seed sample dispensing and ensure timely destruction of obsolete seed.

    • Coordinate with external suppliers for seed pelleting and priming based on planting priorities.

  • Trial Planning & Strategy:

    • Collaborate with breeders to develop comprehensive External Trial Plans, including target trial numbers, plot sizes, planting date ranges, and locations, to effectively assess commercial potential.

  • Trial Execution:

    • Oversee the execution of external trials in commercial fields, in coordination with Local Product Promoters and Sales Teams.

    • Ensure precise trial layout, marking, and optimal plant populations.

    • Create and distribute detailed trial maps to relevant breeding teams.

    • Develop direct relationships with growers to enhance trial efficiency and reduce reliance on third parties.

  • Monitoring & Evaluation:

    • Continuously monitor trials throughout their growth cycle, including thinning and evaluating at maturity.

    • Notify Breeding, Product Development, and Sales Teams for their participation in evaluations as trials mature.

    • Conduct standardized trial evaluations using breeder-approved forms to assess commercial potential, competitiveness, and adaptation.

    • Digitize and maintain evaluation data in an accessible database for Breeding Teams, documenting performance with photographs as needed.

  • Reporting & Analysis:

    • Summarize variety performance at the end of each production season, highlighting competitive advantages, disadvantages, planting slots, and other pertinent details.

    • Support End-of-Season Review Meetings with Breeding Teams and the Product Development Manager to review results and present variety advancement proposals.

  • Market Knowledge & Collaboration:

    • Develop a general understanding of the seed market for key crops (e.g., Brassica, Lettuce, Baby Leaf Greens, Wild Rocket).

    • Participate in weekly Research Operations/Development team meetings.

    • Observe Internal T3 Trials to broaden knowledge of plant material and external T3 varieties.

Qualifications

  • 2 or more years of college education in agriculture-related field of study or minimum 3 years of Ag work experience
  • Basic office environment experience and computer skills (working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet)
  • Comprehensive analytical skills
  • A valid driver’s license and clean driving record required
  • English required. Bilingual in Spanish and English preferred

Skills

  • Organization, planning,
  • Analysis and synthesis,
  • Commercial spirit,
  • Professional autonomy and mobility,
  • Thoroughness and reliability,
  • Pro-activeness.

Recruitment process
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Information at a Glance
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Vilmorin-Mikado is a Franco-Japanese seed producer that has specialized in creating, producing, and selling vegetable seeds for professionals since 1743. As a responsible partner in the vegetable food chain, Vilmorin-Mikado is committed to helping better nourish people everywhere. Our wide range of unique, original seeds is distributed on five continents in more than 100 countries. Vilmorin-Mikado has more than 1,000 employees and recorded sales of €230 million in 2022-2023, of which 15% was entirely devoted to research. World leader in carrots and witloof chicory, Vilmorin-Mikado is also a major player in salads, tomatoes, sweet peppers, kabocha squashes, daikon radishes and bunching onions. Nearly three centuries ago, Vilmorin-Mikado's founders began our Tree Seeds work, which actively contributes to rebuilding sustainable forests.

Limagrain is a global company with deep local roots. Our parent company is an agricultural cooperative based in the Limagne-Val d’Allier plain, in the heart of Central France’s Auvergne region, while we are an international seed and agri-food group with some 9,600 employees working in 53 countries. As the 4th largest seed company in the world, we achieved sales of 2.522 billion euros in 2023-2024, with additional sales of 729 million euros from activities carried out in collaboration with our strategic partners.
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