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Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

Typical education: Doctoral or professional degreeModerate pressure

What they do

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.

Kinds of work

  • Social: Helping, teaching, caring for and supporting other people.
  • Investigative: Science, research, figuring out how things work and solving complex problems.
  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.

Moderate pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $98,700 Median per year Most earn $50,870–$163,150

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • 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.
  • Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
  • Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
  • Participate in campus and community events.
  • Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.

Job outlook

United States
3% more jobs by 2035, about as fast as average · about 800 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Colleges, universities, and professional schools81.9%
  • Junior colleges12.8%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 2 to 4 years

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: Doctoral or professional degreeExperience before this job: 2 to 4 years

This is not an entry-level job. Most people need a doctoral degree plus about 2 to 4 years of related work, often research or teaching, so the path usually takes roughly 10 to 14 years after high school.

  1. Bachelor's degree in agricultural science

    4 years

    Study a field like agronomy, animal science, or horticulture, and build a strong science foundation in biology, chemistry, and statistics.

  2. Master's or doctoral degree in an agricultural science field

    4-6 years

    Earn a PhD in a specialty such as soil science, dairy science, or plant breeding, which is the degree most faculty positions expect and which includes teaching and original research.

  3. Postdoctoral researcher or research scientist

    2-4 years

    Work on a research project under an established scientist to publish papers, gain grant-writing and lab-management experience, and build the track record that colleges look for when hiring faculty.

  4. Agricultural Sciences Teacher, Postsecondary

    Career

    Teach agricultural science courses at a college or university, and in many positions also run a research program or support extension work.

Where it can lead

  1. Associate Professor

    Several years as an Assistant Professor of experience first

    Earn tenure or a long-term faculty position by showing strong teaching, a steady record of published research, and service to the department or community.

  2. Department Chair

    Several years as a faculty member of experience first

    Lead a department by managing budgets, hiring, curriculum, and faculty, which shifts your focus from teaching and research toward leadership and administration.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take biology, chemistry, and as much math as you canA strong science and math base makes college agricultural science courses much easier to handle.
  • Join FFA or 4-HThese youth agriculture groups teach leadership, public speaking, and hands-on animal and plant projects that show you what the field is like.
  • Work or volunteer on a farm, garden center, or greenhouseReal experience with crops, livestock, or soil helps you find out which area of agricultural science interests you most.
  • Enter science fairs or agriculture competitionsDesigning your own experiment and presenting the results builds research skills and gives you something to talk about in college applications.
  • Tutor younger students in scienceExplaining ideas to others is a early practice for teaching at the college level.

In college

  • Major in agronomy, animal science, horticulture, or a related fieldA focused agricultural science major gives you the core knowledge that graduate programs and faculty jobs expect.
  • Get involved in undergraduate researchWorking in a professor's lab or on a field project builds the research experience you will need for a PhD and shows what doing science day to day looks like.
  • Work as a teaching assistant or lab assistantHelping run a class gives you direct experience teaching and explaining difficult topics to students.
  • Take statistics and a writing or communication courseScientists need to analyze data and write clearly, both for papers and for teaching.
  • Join an agriculture club or attend a conferenceStudent organizations and professional meetings let you meet faculty and researchers and learn about graduate programs.

Tips for getting started

  • Ask a professor if you can join their research lab or help with a project as early as your first or second year of college. Hands-on research experience is one of the things graduate programs look for most.
  • Get comfortable with teaching now. Tutoring, leading a study group, or helping run a lab section builds the classroom skills this career needs.
  • Look for a summer job or internship on a farm, at a research station, or with a university extension office. It shows you how agricultural science works outside the classroom.

Related jobs that often lead here

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

College majors that lead here

Majors: U.S. Department of Education and BLS (CIP–SOC crosswalk). Earnings and debt: College Scorecard, typical across U.S. colleges.

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