Agronomy Degrees
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Salaries For Degrees in Agronomy
Those who majored in Agronomy can be employed in a variety of occupations. It is impossible to say what you personally will do with a degree in Agronomy, our survey panel picked the following occupations as likely options:
Students with a degree in Agronomy are considered well prepared for becoming Farm, ranch, and other agricultural managers.
The median salary for people with a degree in Agronomy is $48,651.20. The lifetime value of this degree is approximately $967,923.00.
Salaries are highly dependent on individual negotiating skill, seniority in the field, your employer, region, and more. The estimates we show on these pages are just that: estimates. Your individual experience will likely vary.
Where does this come from?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the US government, classifies all workers into some 800-odd occupational categories. We paid a army of freelancers to solicit their opinion on what type of degree a holder of each type of job would likely have majored in. For pairs which had a high degree of consensus, we created a link between the degree and the job.
From this, we calculated the average salary for Agronomy degrees and converted it into a lifetime value. We then compared it against other degrees at the same level of schooling (such as associate's, bachelor's, or master's), so that you can make informed educational and employment decisions.
What Can a Agronomy Student Expect to Learn?
Agronomy, the science of crops and soils, opens the door to careers in many areas. Graduates with degrees in Agronomy can expect to work with agribusiness, agricultural studies, conservation, framing and even medicine and law. The job of agronomists is to understand, protect and conserve natural soil and seed resources, with implications for a wide range of social and economic issues around the world. Agronomists contribute to the management of food resources and crop propagation, contributing to solving problems of world hunger and food distribution in all areas of the globe.
Degrees in agronomy can be obtained at the Associates, Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral levels, preparing the student for a variety of different roles in agriculture and resource management. The essential curriculum for degrees in Agronomy includes such topics as crop management, soil classification, crop and seed identification, microbiology, plant nutrition, and fundamentals of soil science. Students also study organic chemistry, botany and biology. Because the field of Agronomy is so broad, students at all levels are advised to focus on a particular area of specialization leading to employment in a particular subfield of Agronomy such as plant or soil research, economics or resource management.
Employment Options
Employment is available with all levels of qualification. Recipients of the Associate’s degree fine employment as grain lab technicians, assistants to agronomists, seed analysts and soil classifiers. Graduates with a Bachelor of Science receive a foundation in resource conservation, crop management and research, and find employment in agribusiness, private research, government projects and consulting. They may also work with conservation projects, biotechnology and global food markets.
Degree Options
A Master’s of Science in Agronomy leads to applied research in agronomy, with emphasis on finding solutions in resource management, crop cultivation, and plant propagation.
The Doctoral level often leads to teaching, consulting and research in such areas as plant genetics, soil classification, and sustainability. Programs in Agronomy and related areas such as Soil Science and Natural Resource Management are available through four year accredited institutions, community colleges and technical colleges. Both on-campus and online options exist for pursuing either a short certificate course in a selected topic area or a complete degree.
Online Schools Offering Accredited Agronomy Degree Programs
Online options for obtaining a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Agronomy and related fields are numerous, with traditional programs offering online versions of the on-campus courses of study, as well as dedicated online programs from schools such as the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, New Mexico State, Brigham Young University, Colorado State, Cornell and California Polytechnic Institute. Doctoral studies generally involve research and are not normally available online.
Certificates in specific topic areas area are also available through community colleges and some technical schools, both online and on-campus. These certificates, in such specialties as Soil Management and Seed Identification, provide additional education and qualifications for those employed in the fields of agronomy and agriculture.
Top Colleges & Universities Offering Campus-based Agronomy Degrees
In the United States, traditional on-campus programs in agronomy and natural resource management at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral levels are available through agriculture departments in such schools as Iowa State, Michigan State, University of Nevada, Oklahoma State, and Penn State.
Famous Agronomy Students 
The rapidly expanding field of agronomy offers opportunities worldwide for graduates at all degree levels. Agronomists work to protect the world’s food supplies, improve crop production, and find solutions to crop failure and poor plant propagation.
With employment in such diverse areas as agriculture, medicine, law and governmental bodies, agronomists make great contributions to the prosperity and health of nations around the globe.
Graduates in Agronomy join well-known agronomists such as Norman Borlaug (pictured right), the agronomist who initiated the Green Revolution, in understanding, managing and improving natural resources for the future.
