Organic Farming Standards Manager
Yeo Valley · Blagdon
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Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
Yeo Valley's organic dairy standards cover animal health and welfare as one of four named pillars, and this role sits at the centre of writing, evolving and enforcing them across the company's entire network of organic dairy farmers. Whoever holds this seat decides what "meeting our high standards" actually means on farm: what gets checked, what counts as a shortfall, and whether farmers are pushed to go further on welfare and on the other pillars as the standards evolve. With 25% of UK packaged yoghurt running through this supply chain, a change in those standards reaches a genuinely large part of the organic dairy sector, not a handful of model farms. This is about as close as a corporate seat gets to the machinery that decides how an entire supply base is held to standards covering soil, climate, farmer resilience and animal welfare together, and it also builds exactly the dairy-sector credibility and farmer relationships that open doors to even bigger standards-setting roles later.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
What you'd build
- Dairy supply chain standards expertise
- Farmer relationship management
- On-farm welfare and sustainability auditing
- Stakeholder communication across technical and commercial audiences
Where it can lead
- Regenerative Farming Manager
- Head of Agriculture
- Dairy Category Manager
These senior agriculture and category roles typically set the welfare, climate and sourcing standards an entire dairy supply base must meet, shaping outcomes across a much larger supply chain.
About the role
Yeo Valley is recruiting an Organic Farming Standards Manager into its Responsible Business Team to lead the relationship with its organic dairy farmers and help implement the company's regenerative organic farming standards. The role is the key point of contact for the farmer network, responsible for ensuring high standards are met across four pillars: animal health & welfare, climate, biodiversity and the farming community, through regular farm visits and engagement. Responsibilities include coordinating data collection and interpretation from farms (via third party organisations) to help prove that regenerative organic farming is carbon positive, organising events and meetings for knowledge sharing within the farmer network and with external experts, supporting the Regenerative Farming Manager on wider business projects, communicating project work and evidence to co-owners, customers and external stakeholders through presentations and farm tours, and contributing to the ongoing development of the company's dairy farming standards. Essential requirements are significant in-depth knowledge of dairy farming and the wider food and farming industry, confident communication skills, ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders, project management experience across multiple priorities, and comfort presenting or guiding others on important concepts. Desirable requirements include a higher learning qualification, practical experience across a range of farming systems, data analysis and interpretation skills, knowledge of greenhouse gas emissions and removals across farming systems, and knowledge of organic/regenerative agriculture and farmland ecology and biodiversity. The role is based at YVHQ in Blagdon, salary circa £50,000 depending on experience, with benefits including a company car or car allowance, 25 days holiday, non-contributory pension, life cover, healthcare cash back plan, cycle to work scheme, subsidised products, preferential partner rates, and an annual bonus linked to company performance via the Employee Benefit Trust. The advert closes 1 November 2026, though Yeo Valley notes it may close sooner, and states it does not provide employment sponsorship or accept speculative agency applications.
We added this one ourselves, from the employer's own advert.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- dairy farming knowledge
- organic farming standards
- regenerative agriculture
- farmer relationship management
- stakeholder engagement
- farm visits and audits
- data collection and interpretation
- greenhouse gas emissions knowledge
- biodiversity and farmland ecology
- project management
- presentation skills
- knowledge sharing and training
- animal health and welfare standards
- third party data coordination
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Position yourself around proving the business case for regenerative organic farming, carbon positivity, biodiversity gains, and farmer community resilience alongside animal welfare, since the role explicitly spans all four pillars together. Emphasise any experience gathering and interpreting on-farm data or communicating technical evidence to varied audiences, and build credibility in organic/regenerative agriculture systems and greenhouse gas accounting, both named as desirable here.
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