Biological-Asset Close Recovery Leader — Global Agribusiness

The mandate

Planting, germination, crop development, weather damage and harvest are recorded in field systems, while Finance applies yield, price, quality and cost assumptions by reporting unit. Agronomy updates arrive after close and harvested volume does not always reconcile to inventory intake. A drought-related true-up and the valuation controller’s departure weakened lender and board confidence before the next full crop cycle.

The twelve-month assignment begins within three weeks and covers field population, crop stage, incurred cost, yield forecast, price and quality basis, fair-value movement, weather loss, insurance, harvest transfer, inventory intake, foreign exchange and close. It must complete one full crop cycle and four quarter-ends while Agronomy, commodity risk and appointed valuers retain their judgements.

Permanent recruitment starts in month six. Handover requires field-to-ledger lineage, approved valuation sources, reconciled hectares and tonnes, loss-event protocols, eight farm walkthroughs, four closes and three scenarios. During a seven-week overlap, the successor must resolve an unseen drought plus delayed harvest and explain biological-asset, inventory, insurance and liquidity effects without interim-owned spreadsheets.

The role may reject unsupported finance inputs, require agronomy attestations, set close and valuation-control thresholds, approve delegated corrections, redirect the authorised BRL 210 million remediation budget and replace temporary finance leads. The committee retains planting, harvest, crop treatment, commodity hedging, valuation method, insurance claim, land strategy, accounting policy and permanent appointments.

Agronomy, farm safety, commodity trading, weather forecasting, valuation opinion, insurance adjustment and operational harvest decisions remain outside scope. The leader may challenge evidence and model scenarios but cannot improve results by selecting favourable prices, delaying loss recognition or counting unharvested estimates as inventory. The term closes after tested succession through the crop cycle.

Why this seat is open

Farm teams see hectares and crop condition, commodity teams see market exposure and Finance values biological transformation on reporting dates. The drought exposed that these histories were joined only by the departing controller. Temporary authority is required through a complete seasonal cycle to establish evidence that permanent leadership can sustain.

What you will own

• Reconcile field, crop, variety, planting, stage, condition, forecast yield, harvested volume and inventory intake.
• Govern price, quality, location, cost, selling-cost, currency and uncertainty inputs used in valuation bridges.
• Trace weather, pest, disease, fire and abandonment events into quantity, value, insurance and disclosure treatment.
• Establish agronomy attestation, source cut-off, estimate change, override, review, correction and audit evidence.
• Lead scenarios for drought, delayed harvest, quality downgrade, price shock, storage constraint and insurance delay.
• Maintain separate biological-asset, harvested-inventory, commodity-risk, cash and operational production views.
• Transfer four quarters, eight farm files, full crop cycle and unseen weather event to the permanent leader.

Candidate qualifications

• Held senior agricultural finance, biological-asset accounting or valuation-control authority across commercial crop operations.
• Reconciled field and agronomy data to yield, valuation, harvest transfer, inventory and financial reporting.
• Governed price, quality, weather and uncertainty inputs without acting as agronomist, trader or external valuer.
• Led close recovery after material crop loss, delayed harvest or field-to-inventory discrepancy.
• Presented seasonal valuation and liquidity consequences to boards, lenders, auditors and operations leaders.
• Completed succession through a full crop cycle and an unfamiliar combined weather-and-harvest scenario.

Non-negotiables

• Can complete eight farm residencies and remain through planting, development, harvest and annual reporting.
• Will disclose relationships with growers, traders, valuers, insurers, lenders, auditors and agricultural-data providers.
• Brings field-to-ledger biological-asset control at scale; commodity FP&A alone is insufficient.
• Will not direct farming, choose hedges, issue valuations, adjust insurance or select favourable inputs to manage earnings.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a crop valuation that changed after field or harvest evidence was reconciled.
2. 49 words maximum. How would you separate biological asset, inventory and commodity-risk views?
3. 49 words maximum. What drought-and-delay scenario must the permanent leader resolve before handover?