Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

What Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary do

You teach college students how crops, soil, and animals actually work, in lecture halls, labs, and out in the field.

Agricultural sciences teachers work at colleges and universities, teaching subjects like crop production, plant genetics, soil chemistry, dairy and poultry science, horticulture (growing plants), fisheries, and rangeland care. Some focus almost entirely on teaching. Many split their time between teaching and research, running their own studies and publishing what they find in professional journals and books.

The job mixes people and solitude. You stand in front of a class, hold office hours (set times when students can drop in with questions), advise students on courses and careers, and plan with colleagues. Then you go quiet for hours to read new research, grade papers, and write. Most of the work happens indoors at a desk, but you also supervise labs and field work where students get their hands in the dirt.

A day in the life

You start with email: a student asking about a grade, a colleague proposing a joint project. You teach a morning lecture on soil chemistry, then answer questions in the hallway afterward. Midday you sit in your office during your drop-in hours, where one student wants advice on which courses to take and another wants to talk about careers. In the afternoon you check on a lab session or a test plot outdoors, a small patch of land used for growing experiments, making sure equipment and samples are handled correctly. Later you sit down alone to grade assignments, read a new study in your field, and add a few paragraphs to a paper you are writing. You end by drafting next week's handouts.

How people get in

1. 1Take biology, chemistry, and any agriculture or plant and animal classes your school offers, and get hands-on experience through farm work, a garden, or a school or community agriculture club such as 4-H or FFA (student groups that run farming and animal projects).
2. 2Earn a bachelor's degree in a field like Animal Sciences, Agriculture, Horticulture, or Agricultural Business and Management.
3. 3Work in a professor's lab or on a research project as an undergraduate so you learn how studies are designed and written up.
4. 4Go on to graduate school. For this job you usually need a doctorate, the highest university degree, which takes several more years of study and research after a bachelor's.
5. 5While in graduate school, work as a teaching assistant, helping run a professor's class or lab, to get real classroom practice, and publish your research where you can.
6. 6Apply for instructor or assistant professor openings, and keep up with new findings by reading journals and attending professional conferences.

Who tends to enjoy it

Official task list

Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary teach courses in the agricultural sciences. Includes teachers of agronomy, dairy sciences, fisheries management, horticultural sciences, poultry sciences, range management, and agricultural soil conservation. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research. (O*NET)

• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Supervise laboratory sessions and field work and coordinate laboratory operations.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as crop production, plant genetics, and soil chemistry.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.

A typical day involves

How much Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary make

The median pay for Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary in the U.S. is $98,700 a year. Most earn between $50,870 and $163,150. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025)

Pay depends a lot on where you live: the median is highest in Michigan ($136,130) and lowest in Ohio ($46,160).

Where to study for this

College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.

• Animal Sciences 141 colleges
• Agribusiness / Agricultural Business Operations 207 colleges
• Agriculture 190 colleges
• Applied Horticulture / Horticulture Operations 184 colleges
• Agricultural Business and Management 169 colleges
• Agricultural Economics 54 colleges
• Food Science 77 colleges
• Agronomy and Crop Science 79 colleges

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