Jobs for the Major
How this major affects a job search
After getting your degree, you'll be tossed out into the cold, hard world and be expected to do something. Shmoop recommends shoving seeds into the ground and hoping for the best.
If working directly with plants doesn't appeal to you, have no fear, there are plenty of less seedy jobs to be had, as well. In fact, you've got a pretty sweet outlook. When your peers in communications or journalism are bragging about their salaries, bring up the fact that your field's unemployment rate is significantly lower than theirs. Y'know, if that's your type of trash talk. Rub their faces in it.
A degree in agriculture can prepare you for a variety of careers, but most of them will be science-based. You'll probably be expected to know the basics of plant-related science regardless of your specific function. Prepare yourself by soaking up as much sciencey information as you possibly can.
In a few years, you could find yourself working anywhere, from tirelessly preparing a natural field's turf to arguing for legislation that increases wages for fruit pickers. That's a pretty broad range.
Common Career Fields
Arboriculture. This tricky word boils down to "tree person." Arborists grow, nurture, and transplant trees for a wide array of reasons. Whether it's looking after the trees in a major city or evaluating the health of a homeowner's proud sycamore in the countryside, arborists have options as to location. If your tree-love can't be contained, you can even work in an arboretum, which is like a Disneyland for tree people.
Conservation. Working with and around plants can lead to a love for the outdoors. If you develop a serious passion for Mother Nature and decide to devote your life to preserving natural beauty, you can go into the conservation game. Although built on the backs of volunteers, conservation is an endeavor that needs people running offices and calling to inform voters of local issues. The pay won't be outrageously high, but this is the type of occupation that helps you sleep soundly at night.
Ecology. These scientists study relationships between organisms, such as the snowshoe hare and lynx, which we promise you'll learn about if you take an ecology course in college. If it isn't the hare and lynx, it'll be Darwin's finches. Just a heads-up.
Farm Management. When most people think of farms, they picture chickens and cows or long rows of corn, but there are many types of farm that need overseeing. For example, you could specialize in something off the beaten path, like hazelnuts. If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that we need as much Nutella as this Earth can possibly produce. If hazelnuts aren't your thing, you can try out a more common crop, like potatoes or tomatoes.
Genetics. Perhaps learning why Drosophila flies could end up with about a million different traits is more interesting to you than looking at boring ol' vegetables. We can sympathize. The reason they have different types of wings and eye colors is because of differences in genetics. Understanding the principles here, such as imprinting, dominant versus recessive genes, and allele frequencies, can lead you into a career as a geneticist. It can be infinitely interesting, but prepare yourself for a barrage of friends asking you why their eyes are brown when their parents both have green eyes.
To which you should shrug and say, "The milkman?"
Lobbying. Knowing a lot about a specific subject is a great way to get a job as a lobbyist. These are the people who serve as middlemen between social causes and the politicians who vote on them. Picture a small farm community in the hills of Kentucky that needs someone to fight against a proposition that would turn all of their farmland into a coal mining operation. They might go to a lobbyist to ensure that it never passes.
Research. Agriculture is a field where research is constantly evolving. That's exactly what the plants are doing, after all. Researchers work to accomplish many different goals, from discovering a way to increase the nutritional value of crops to combining them into one plant. The work done by these individuals influences literally everybody in the field of agriculture. Try to imagine running a farm that still used practices from the 1800s. You'd be laughed out of the annual farmer's meeting, which we assume exists in every town.
Current unemployment of the major
4.0%Percentage of majors who get a higher degree after college
25%Stats obtained from this source.