Direct Grower Procurement Manager

Red River Commodities is a leading processor of sunflower seeds and specialty grains, specializing in high-quality, nutritious food products. We pride ourselves on our sustainable practices, innovation, and commitment to delivering superior products to our customers. Our team shares core values focused on quality, innovation, responsibility, and community. We work hard, play harder, embrace authenticity, and always support one another to achieve our goals.

The Direct Grower Procurement Manager leads Red River Commodities’ direct-grower program, with primary responsibility for securing conventional confection, con-oil, and black oil sunflower seed procurement. This role develops and executes regional grower sourcing strategies that provide a reliable supply of quality grain, strengthen long-term grower relationships, and support production, inventory, cost, and customer requirements.

The role owns grower recruitment, contracting, acreage planning, crop-year communication, market analysis, delivery coordination, and contract performance. The Direct Grower Procurement Manager works closely with growers, grain and seed partners, third-party storage facilities, Operations, Quality, Production Planning, Supply Chain, Finance, and company leadership to align crop supply with business needs, quality, availability, and market risk.

• Develop and execute the direct-grower procurement strategy with primary emphasis on conventional confection, con-oil, and black oil sunflower seeds.
• Establish annual acreage, volume, quality, geographic coverage, and grower-retention goals based on demand forecasts, inventory positions, production requirements, and crop-market conditions.
• Identify priority growing regions and expand the grower network to strengthen supply continuity, competitive positioning, and regional diversification.
• Recommend grower contract structures, pricing approaches, premiums, delivery periods, and other program terms consistent with approved procurement strategy.
• Provide regional crop and grower insights to procurement and business leadership for planning, budgeting, and sourcing decisions.

• Recruit, develop, and retain conventional sunflower growers throughout North Dakota and South Dakota.
• Build trusted, long-term relationships through regular farm visits, grower meetings, field days, agricultural events, crop tours, and timely crop-year communication.
• Serve as a primary commercial contact for growers regarding contracts, crop conditions, delivery expectations, quality requirements, and issue resolution.
• Maintain current knowledge of grower economics, competing crops, regional processors and buyers, planting intentions, land availability, and local market dynamics.
• Coordinate grower education and communication regarding company specifications, agronomic expectations, traceability, delivery procedures, and contract obligations.

• Negotiate and administer grower contracts, ensuring accurate acreages, varieties, volumes, pricing, premiums, quality terms, delivery periods, and signatures.
• Monitor sunflower, competing crop, input-cost, basis, freight, weather, and regional supply-demand trends that influence grower planting and selling decisions.
• Develop crop-year market assessments and sourcing recommendations using USDA information, local crop intelligence, grower feedback, competitor activity, and internal demand data.
• Maintain accurate contract, position, forecast, and cost information in company systems and supporting procurement reports.
• Monitor contract performance and proactively address underproduction, overproduction, delivery timing, quality concerns, defaults, or other exceptions.

• Track planting progress, emergence, crop development, weather impacts, yield potential, harvest progress, and quality conditions across the assigned region.
• Partner with Quality and Operations to communicate incoming grain specifications, foreign-material expectations, sampling standards, rejection criteria, and corrective actions.
• Coordinate with growers, carriers, plants, third-party storage facilities, and Supply Chain to support timely deliveries and efficient use of receiving and storage capacity.
• Support traceability and accurate documentation from contracted grower and field through delivery and settlement.
• Participate in investigation and resolution of quality claims, delivery…