Junior Agronomist (gn) @ Agritech Venture, Wageningen (NL)

About Aardaia

Aardaia is domesticating an entirely new crop for European agriculture: aardaker (Lathyrus tuberosus), a nitrogen-fixing, protein-rich tuberous legume. It has not been farmed commercially since the 1800s. We are collapsing a domestication timeline that used to take millennia down to years, using genomics, speed breeding, and hands-on agronomy: figuring out from scratch how to plant, feed, protect, and harvest it, and how to grow its seed.

This is agriculture with no existing roadmap. You will help write it.

The Role

You will develop the agronomic practices that determine how aardaker gets grown: field preparation, nutrition, weed control, and harvest. That work covers both the crop we harvest and the seed we grow to establish the following year's crop. You will design and run trials, monitor crops across sites, collect data, and turn what you learn into practical recommendations that feed directly into commercial decisions.

You will be our eyes in the field. Every observation you make and every trial you run directly affects how fast we can move from experimental plots to farms across Europe.

What You'll Do

• Monitor and report on production fields and trial plots across the Netherlands, and occasionally at trial sites elsewhere in Europe: crop response, disease pressure, treatment effects, herbicide selectivity

• Help grow, manage, and harvest both the crop and the plots that produce seed for the following season

• Test nutrient strategies and weed control approaches, both organic and conventional

• Evaluate variables like plant density, bed systems, and mulches

• Keep accurate, traceable records and translate results into agronomic recommendations

• Run key field operations at certain sites end-to-end, operating the tractor and the planting, weeding, and harvest equipment yourself

Who You Are

You understand what fieldwork actually involves, because you have done it, not just read about it. You are as at home on a tractor as with a data sheet: methodical in how you collect data, practical in how you solve problems. You are comfortable with uncertainty and energized by figuring things out where there are no settled answers yet.

You Have

• A Bachelor's in Agronomy, Plant Sciences, Horticulture, or similar

• Real-time working the land, not just studying it

• Hands-on experience operating farm machinery (tractor, planting and harvest equipment), and a real willingness to get your hands dirty

• Accuracy and care when it comes to data and records

• An EU driver's license (B) and fluent English (Dutch is a plus)

Why This Matters

This is not theoretical. Aardaker is already on the menu at De Nieuwe Winkel, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in the Netherlands, and field production is scaling significantly (5x) this season. The practices you develop and the data you collect become the agronomic foundation for a protein crop as it moves from a handful of plots toward European agriculture. You will work on unsolved problems, in real field conditions, where what you find changes what we do next.

Our Culture

Everyone pitches in. Around planting and harvest, that means all hands on deck, whatever the crop needs. We believe the best agronomists understand the full system, from soil to seed to what ends up on someone's plate.

What You Get

• Real ownership of problems that genuinely are not solved yet, like weed control and crop establishment, where your work sets the standard rather than following one

• A direct line from your fieldwork to commercial decisions, with no layers in between

• A small, capable team and room to take on more as the company grows

• Competitive salary

Location and Contract

Full-time, based in the Netherlands. Wageningen is home base, with regular work at trial sites around the country.