Farming Head – Organic Agriculture & Farm Ecosystem

Farming Head – Organic Agriculture & Farm Ecosystem

1. Position Details

Position:	Farming Head – Organic Agriculture & Farm Ecosystem
Function:	Agriculture / Supply Chain / Farm Development
Reports to:	Business Head
Location:	Bengaluru (Initially in Bengaluru, can be located elsewhere too later)
Team:	Farm Development, Agronomy, Farmer Relations, Organic Certification, Field Operations

2. Role Purpose

The Farming Head will be responsible for building and managing the end-to-end organic farming ecosystem required to create a reliable, scalable and commercially viable supply base for the Company's organic food business.

The role will lead the development of company-owned/leased farms, farmer clusters, contract farming arrangements, FPO/FPC partnerships and organic farmer networks, ensuring consistent availability of certified organic raw materials at the required quality, quantity and cost.

The Farming Head will work closely with Procurement, Quality Assurance, NPD, Processing, Supply Chain, Sales and Finance to build a robust Farm-to-Fork organic supply chain.

Key Objective

Build a scalable, traceable and certification-compliant organic farming ecosystem capable of supplying consistent quality produce throughout the year at competitive costs.

3. Key Responsibilities

A. Organic Farming Ecosystem Development

Develop the Company's overall organic farming strategy across priority crops and geographies.

• Identify suitable agricultural regions based on:
• Soil and agro-climatic suitability
• Water availability
• Organic farming potential
• Farmer availability
• Crop productivity
• Logistics and proximity to processing centres
• Certification feasibility
• Develop a multi-year farm development plan covering key organic commodities.
• Establish a mix of:
• Company-owned/leased farms
• Contract farming
• Farmer clusters
• FPO/FPC partnerships
• Aggregation centres
• Strategic farmer partnerships
• Build a scalable farmer ecosystem capable of supporting future business growth.

B. Farmer Network Development

Identify, onboard and develop farmers suitable for organic agriculture.

• Build long-term relationships with farmers, farmer groups, FPOs and cooperatives.
• Develop cluster-based farming models rather than fragmented individual farmer sourcing wherever commercially viable.
• Establish farmer engagement and retention programmes.
• Develop transparent mechanisms for:
• Input support
• Technical support
• Price discovery
• Crop planning
• Purchase commitments
• Payment
• Quality incentives
• Create farmer loyalty through predictable offtake and productivity improvement.

Target Outcome: Develop a high-retention farmer ecosystem with assured supply and strong farmer economics.

4. Organic Conversion & Farm Development

Develop plans for converting conventional farms to organic production.

• Identify suitable farms already under organic cultivation.
• Prepare crop-wise organic conversion roadmaps.
• Establish farm-level organic management systems.
• Ensure compliance with applicable organic production standards, including NPOP requirements where relevant.
• Coordinate with the Company's organic certification agency for:
• Farm registration
• Internal inspections
• Documentation
• Conversion management
• Certification audits
• Non-conformity closure
• Maintain farm-level records necessary for organic certification and traceability.

5. Agronomy & Productivity Improvement

Lead the development of scientifically sound organic farming practices covering:

• Soil health management
• Organic manure and compost
• Biofertilisers
• Biological pest management
• Crop rotation
• Intercropping
• Seed selection
• Water management
• Integrated weed management
• Natural pest and disease management
• Regenerative agriculture practices
• Post-harvest handling

Work with agronomists and agricultural institutions to continuously improve:

• Yield per acre
• Crop quality
• Soil health
• Input efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Farmer profitability

6. Crop Planning & Supply Assurance

Work closely with Procurement, NPD and Sales teams to prepare an annual and multi-year Organic Crop & Supply Plan.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop crop-wise acreage requirements.
• Determine expected production and harvest periods.
• Map seasonality and crop availability.
• Identify supply gaps and surplus risks.
• Develop staggered planting programmes.
• Build contingency sourcing plans.
• Create regional crop diversification strategies.
• Develop supply forecasts for 12–36 months.

Key principle: Demand forecast → Crop plan → Farmer allocation → Production → Harvest → Aggregation → Processing

The Farming Head should ensure that the farming ecosystem is demand-led rather than supply-led.

7. Seed & Planting Material Strategy

Develop a robust system for:

• Organic seed sourcing
• Seed multiplication
• Seed quality assessment
• Indigenous and traditional varieties
• High-performing organic-compatible varieties
• Nursery development where applicable
• Traceable planting material

Build strategic relationships with agricultural universities, research institutions and seed organisations.

8. Organic Input Ecosystem

Develop a reliable ecosystem for organic agricultural inputs including:

• Organic manure
• Compost
• Vermicompost
• Biofertilisers
• Biopesticides
• Botanical pesticides
• Bio-stimulants
• Organic-certified crop protection products
• Organic seeds

Where commercially viable, develop in-house or cluster-level production of organic inputs to reduce farmer costs and improve supply reliability.

9. Farmer Training & Extension Services

Establish a professional farmer extension system.

• Develop:
• Farmer training programmes
• Demonstration farms
• Crop-wise SOPs
• Farm advisory systems
• Field monitoring
• Pest and disease alerts
• Organic farming manuals
• Mobile/digital farmer advisory systems
• Build a team of Field Officers / Agronomists / Cluster Managers to provide regular farm-level support.

10. Farm Traceability & Digital Agriculture

Establish farm-level traceability covering:

• Farmer → Farm → Plot → Crop → Input → Harvest → Aggregation → Processing

Implement appropriate digital systems for:

• Farmer registration
• GPS/geotagging of farms
• Farm acreage
• Crop planning
• Input usage
• Farm inspections
• Certification status
• Harvest quantities
• Batch traceability
• Farmer payments
• Yield tracking

The objective should be 100% traceability of organic raw materials back to the farm/plot level.

11. Quality & Organic Integrity

Work closely with QA/QC and Certification teams to ensure:

• Organic integrity
• No prohibited inputs
• Proper segregation of organic and conventional produce
• Correct harvesting practices
• Proper post-harvest handling
• Prevention of contamination
• Residue monitoring
• Farm-level quality standards

Establish a robust Organic Integrity Management System across the farmer ecosystem.

12. Farm Economics & Commercial Viability

The Farming Head will be responsible not only for agricultural productivity but also for farmer and business economics.

Develop crop-wise:

• Cost of cultivation
• Expected yield
• Farmer profitability
• Procurement price
• Input cost
• Logistics cost
• Conversion economics
• Organic premium economics

Identify opportunities to reduce cost through:

• Cluster farming
• Shared infrastructure
• Mechanisation
• Input aggregation
• Better yields
• Crop planning
• Reduced wastage
• Direct farmer procurement

13. Farm Infrastructure Development

Identify and establish required infrastructure such as:

• Collection centres
• Farm-level storage
• Aggregation centres
• Pack houses
• Sorting/grading facilities
• Drying facilities
• Cold storage where required
• Irrigation infrastructure
• Composting units
• Organic input centres
• Farm machinery pools

Work with Supply Chain and Operations teams to optimise the farm-to-processing logistics network.

14. Strategic Partnerships

Develop partnerships with:

• FPOs/FPCs
• Farmer cooperatives
• Agricultural universities
• ICAR institutions
• State agriculture departments
• Organic certification agencies
• NGOs working in sustainable agriculture
• Agri-tech companies
• Organic input companies
• Research institutions
• Development organisations

Leverage partnerships to accelerate farmer acquisition, technology adoption and organic conversion.

15. Sustainability & Regenerative Agriculture

Develop the Company's farming ecosystem around long-term sustainability.

Key areas include:

• Soil carbon improvement
• Water conservation
• Biodiversity
• Crop diversity
• Reduced external inputs
• Regenerative farming
• Agroforestry where appropriate
• Indigenous crop varieties
• Sustainable irrigation
• Reduction in agricultural waste

Build measurable ESG and sustainability metrics for the farming ecosystem.

16. Team Building

Build and lead a high-quality farming organisation comprising:

• Regional Agriculture Managers
• Cluster Managers
• Agronomists
• Field Officers
• Farmer Relationship Managers
• Organic Certification Coordinators
• Farm Supervisors
• Farm Data/Traceability Specialists

Develop a strong field-oriented culture focused on farmer relationships, productivity and supply assurance.

17. Key Deliverables – First 12–18 Months

The Farming Head should be expected to deliver:

First 90 Days

• Complete agricultural landscape and commodity mapping.
• Identify priority crops and sourcing regions.
• Develop farmer ecosystem strategy.
• Identify potential farmer clusters/FPOs.
• Prepare crop-wise acreage and supply plan.
• Develop organic farming SOPs.
• Create farmer onboarding and certification framework.

3–6 Months

• Onboard initial farmer clusters.
• Establish demonstration farms.
• Initiate organic conversion programmes.
• Establish field extension team.
• Implement farm-level traceability.
• Develop crop-wise production economics.
• Establish initial aggregation infrastructure.

6–12 Months

• Scale farmer network.
• Establish reliable supply of priority commodities.
• Improve crop productivity.
• Build certified organic acreage.
• Establish farmer procurement and payment systems.
• Develop multi-season crop planning.
• Reduce supply volatility.

12–18 Months

• Create a scalable national organic farming ecosystem.
• Expand geographic and crop coverage.
• Establish long-term farmer partnerships.
• Improve farmer profitability.
• Achieve high traceability and organic integrity.
• Create predictable supply for the Company's processing and retail businesses.

18. Key Performance Indicators

The Farming Head should be measured on the following KPIs:

KPI	Measurement
Certified Organic Acreage	Total certified acres
Farmer Base	Active farmers onboarded
Farmer Retention	% annual farmer retention
Supply Fulfilment	% of demand met through own ecosystem
Yield	Actual vs target yield/acre
Quality	% material meeting quality standards
Organic Compliance	Certification compliance / NC closure
Traceability	% raw material traceable to farm
Farmer Profitability	Farmer contribution / acre
Cost of Production	Cost/kg by crop
Supply Reliability	% planned supply achieved
Crop Diversification	Number of commercially viable crops
Post-Harvest Loss	% loss from farm to aggregation
Organic Conversion	Acres converted to certified organic
Farmer Training	Training coverage and frequency
Soil Health	Improvement in defined soil parameters
Water Efficiency	Water use per unit of production

19. Candidate Profile

Education

B.Sc./M.Sc. in Agriculture, Agronomy, Horticulture, Soil Science or related discipline.

MBA/PGDM in Agri-business would be an advantage.

Experience

Ideally 15–20+ years of experience in:

• Agriculture
• Organic farming
• Contract farming
• Farmer aggregation
• FPO/FPC development
• Agri supply chains
• Farm management
• Agribusiness
• Sustainable/regenerative agriculture

Experience in building farmer ecosystems at scale is strongly preferred.

20. Desired Competencies

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Agricultural Expertise: Strong understanding of crop science, organic farming and farm productivity.
• Farmer Ecosystem Building: Ability to build trust-based relationships with thousands of farmers and farmer organisations.
• Commercial Orientation: Ability to balance farmer profitability, raw material quality and company economics.
• Execution Capability: Strong field orientation with demonstrated ability to execute large-scale agricultural programmes.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop a long-term farm ecosystem rather than merely managing procurement.
• Cross-functional Leadership: Ability to work effectively with Procurement, QA/QC, NPD, Processing, Supply Chain, Finance and Sales.
• Data Orientation: Ability to use farm data, crop economics and digital tools to make decisions.
• Change Management: Ability to transition farmers from conventional to organic/regenerative farming practices.

21. Ideal Candidate Background

The preferred candidate could come from one of the following backgrounds:

• Large-scale organic food company
• FMCG company with agricultural sourcing
• Agri-business / commodity company
• Contract farming organisation
• FPO/FPC ecosystem
• Large agricultural estate/farm operation
• Organic certification / sustainable agriculture ecosystem
• Agri-tech company with farmer networks
• Food processing company with backward integration
• Large institutional agricultural programme

22. Critical Success Factor

The Farming Head should not be treated merely as a Farm Operations Head.

This is fundamentally a Backward Integration & Organic Ecosystem Development role.

The person should be accountable for building the entire agricultural engine:

• Farmer Acquisition → Organic Conversion → Certification → Crop Planning → Inputs → Agronomy → Production → Harvest → Aggregation → Traceability → Quality → Supply Assurance → Farmer Profitability

The ultimate objective is to create a strategic, scalable and defensible organic sourcing ecosystem that becomes a competitive advantage for the Company's Farm-to-Fork business.

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