A degree in agriculture gives you the knowledge and skills needed to manage agricultural and farm businesses, or to work in areas such as agricultural sales, food production and farming journalism

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Agricultural consultant
• Estates manager
• Farm manager
• Fish farm manager
• Plant breeder/geneticist
• Rural practice surveyor
• Soil scientist

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Amenity horticulturist
• Commercial horticulturist
• Field trials officer
• Forest/woodland manager
• Horticultural consultant
• Magazine journalist
• Newspaper journalist
• Sales executive

Work experience

It's important to get hands-on work experience, which will increase your chances of securing a job after graduation. If you don't have the opportunity to complete a placement year as part of your course, look for relevant work in the holidays. This may involve going to local commercial farms and asking if they have any extra work or seeing if you could shadow someone who works in farm management.

Search for local voluntary projects in your area involving agricultural or environmental work.

Typical employers

There are diverse opportunities available for agriculture graduates. For example, you can work in areas such as farm management, the service and supply industries, sales, research, or advisory and consultancy work. Opportunities are available in both the public and private sectors in the UK and abroad.

Typical employers include:

• agricultural and agri-pharmaceutical consultancies
• agricultural machinery firms
• environmental consultancies
• farm management and commercial ancillary companies
• food processing companies
• food retail companies
• government and local authorities - in a range of advisory and administration roles
• trade associations such as the NFU
• the media - for roles in agricultural journalism
• universities - in research and lecturing posts.

Skills for your CV

Studying agriculture helps you develop a mix of technical skills and knowledge, including land use, farming practice, food production, crop and livestock science, use of farm machinery, sustainability and environmental management.

You also gain an understanding of the scientific, technical, ethical and business principles that underpin the agricultural industry.

Employers are interested in the broader skills you acquire, such as:

• the ability to communicate well, including influencing and leadership
• numeracy and IT - helpful for understanding and improving economics in an agricultural role
• initiative - having the confidence to take initiative and make decisions is important in farming
• organisational skills
• the ability to plan and conduct research
• teamwork
• project management skills.