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  • Regenerative food
  • Chef's palate × Soil carbon science
  • Closes 15 Dec

Soil Sommelier

Mendroot · Accra, on-site · $55–70k · 40 people

18ktoday

7% of the way to the goal

250khectares by 2030

Where this role takes you

Mendroot's 2030 goal, and where the work is today

18khectares in transition

7% of the way to the goal

250khectares by 2030

Week 1

You get your hands dirty.

A week living on Kwame's farm during harvest. Take soil samples with Joel, cook with what comes out of the ground, and taste the same crop from three different fields.

With

3fields, one crop, tasted blind

Farmers can't afford to fix their soil until the market pays for it.

Mendroot works with 1,200 smallholder farms moving to regenerative practice: cover crops, no-till, compost. The soil gets healthier, but in the first three years yields can dip, and nobody pays extra.

The Soil Sommelier closes that gap. You run blind tastings with chefs and buyers, link what they taste to soil test results, and turn it into a grade that restaurants put on their menus and pay a premium for.

Is this you?

If two or more of these sound like you, you're worth talking to, whatever your CV says.

  • You can taste the difference between two tomatoes and explain it.
  • You've worked a busy kitchen service and stayed calm.
  • Lab data makes you curious, not nervous.
  • You'd happily spend harvest season living on a farm.

Why this seat matters

“When the chef said my tomatoes tasted different, I finally believed the soil had changed.”

Kwame Asante, farmer, Ashanti Region

Meet the crew. There's a seat for you.

  • You?This seatSoil Sommelier

Amaka Obi · Head of agronomy, your manager

“I know everything about soil and nothing about why a chef pays more for a tomato. That's why we need you.”

On a bad day: disappears into a field and comes back calmer.

A Thursday in harvest season

June to August

  1. 06:30Field walk and soil sampling
  2. 09:30Carbon and microbial tests with Joel
  3. 12:00Lunch cooked from the morning's harvest
  4. 14:00Blind tasting with two chefs
  5. 16:00Write tasting notes for buyers
  6. 18:30Thursday dinner with the farm team

What life is like

Harvest season
Three weeks a year living on partner farms, housing provided.
Thursdays
The whole team cooks dinner together.
Fridays
Half-day for learning: soil courses, kitchen stages, anything else.
Every quarter
A paid stage in a partner restaurant kitchen.

What you'll do

  • Run monthly blind tastings with chefs and buyers
  • Design the Soil Grade scoring method
  • Link tasting results to soil lab data
  • Present results to restaurants and farmer co-ops

What you bring

  • 3+ years as a chef, food buyer or sensory scientist
  • A precise vocabulary for flavour
  • Comfort with lab data, or keen to learn
  • Twi or Ga is a plus
  • No soil science degree. Joel runs a lab course for new hires.

Your part in it

TASTE
the same crop from different fields, blind.
RUN
monthly blind tastings with twelve Accra chefs and buyers.
PAIR
with Joel to link every tasting score to soil lab data.
DESIGN
the Soil Grade scoring method.
PRESENT
results to restaurants and farmer co-ops.

What success looks like

DAY 30
you’ve lived through harvest on Kwame’s farm and run your first carbon test with Joel.
DAY 60
Sefa has walked you through the Osu kitchens and the first chefs have joined the panel.
DAY 90
twelve chefs taste blind each month, scored by the method you designed with the soil lab.

What you’ll need

  • 3+ years as a chef, food buyer or sensory scientist
  • A precise vocabulary for flavour
  • Comfort with lab data, or keen to learn

Nice to have, not required

  • Any soil science. Joel runs a lab course for new hires.
  • Twi or Ga

Where you’ll work

OFFICE
Accra, on-site. The chef panel and the Osu kitchens are here.
FIELD
Partner farms in the Ashanti Region, from the Kumasi field base.
HOURS
Greenwich Mean Time. Field days start at 06:30.
JUN–AUG
Harvest season. Three weeks living on partner farms, housing provided.
STAGE
A paid quarterly stage in a partner restaurant kitchen.

Languages

LanguageNeedWhy
EnglishRequiredTeam language, and every tasting note for buyers.
TwiNice to haveSpoken on most partner farms in the Ashanti Region.
GaNice to haveSpoken in Accra’s markets and many Osu kitchens.

The essentials

Soil Sommelier · Mendroot

Salary
$55–70k
Where
Accra, on-site
Leave
28 days
Extras
Farm housing at harvest

How you'll interview · about 2 weeks

  1. 1 · Chat with Amaka
  2. 2 · Blind tasting, 6 samples
  3. 3 · Meet the crew
  4. 4 · Half a day on a farm

Your first stop

Kwame's farm, for harvest

Not ready to apply? Talk to Sefa for 15 minutes.

No CV needed. Ask about the work, the people, or what a hard week looks like.