Breeder's Assistant

Duda Farm Fresh Foods is a world leader in celery production, innovation and celery research. A subsidiary of A. Duda & Sons, a family owned company with a rich heritage in celery for 95 years, Duda Farm Fresh Foods has a research center devoted to celery research, a state of the art celery processing facility, a world leading breeding program with approximately 100 celery varieties to its credit including numerous preeminent developments and a team of scientists committed to maintaining its esteemed position.  Duda is currently seeking a qualified candidate as Breeders Assistant to join this team. The Breeders Assistant will play a critical role in providing assistance to the celery breeder. This position is responsible for assisting in all aspects of the OP, hybrid and sterile programs for celery including data collection and entry, trial evaluation, cage and test cross operations, disease screening and any other day to day activities warranted by the celery breeding programs.

Responsibilities & Qualifications 

• Assist in all aspects of the celery breeding programs including trial evaluation, selecting and digging plants, trial data collection and data entry.
• Assist with celery caging operations, isolation test crosses and seed crops, including planting, confirming sterility, and seed harvest. 
• Assist with data input in the Breeding database, patent data collection, patent data analysis and summary table preparation. 
• Assist with disease and stress screening programs (laboratory and field), data collection and data entry.
• Assist in preparation of trials, packaging of seed, coordination of trials with growers, nurseries and the research team. 
• Evaluate seed crops to ensure purity and trueness to variety with a priority on hybrids but inclusive of OP's (especially the male parents). Work with the team to ensure protocols are maintained and/or improve purity and seed quality.
• Capable and willing to travel to the numerous celery production locations around the United States (Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Carolinas, and California) for the evaluation of trials, to become familiar with the growers, farming operations, farming/harvesting/processing practices, and generally all aspects of celery. 
• Capable of differentiating information or materials that are confidential and sharing information appropriately within and outside the Duda organization.
• Experience/Knowledge in Microsoft Office.
• Fluent in English, Spanish beneficial.
• Bachelor’s Degree required. Area(s) of study; plant breeding, biology, horticulture, agronomy or related field,
• Prior experience with breeding, trialing or relevant responsibilities.
• Other duties as assigned. 

EEO STATEMENT
Duda Farm Fresh Foods provides a fair and equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. We expect and require the cooperation of all employees in maintaining a discrimination and harassment-free work environment.

Due to the high volume of applications received, only those candidates who are selected for interviews will be contacted.