Career Opportunities

Careers & Alumni

Why study agriculture?

Are you interested in working with plants and animals? Considering a career in farming or food production? Do you want a major that will help you land an exciting, high-paying career after graduation?

An agriculture degree can pave the way to a wide variety of career paths. As an agriculture student, you can choose one of the following concentrations to align with your career goals.

Agribusiness

The agribusiness concentration provides students with the skills and knowledge they need for careers such as:

  • Agricultural financier
  • Agricultural economist
  • Agricultural lender
  • Agricultural policy analyst
  • Agricultural sales and marketing professional
  • Farm and ranch manager

Agricultural development

The concentration in agricultural development is designed primarily for students interested in teaching agriculture at the high school level, but it also prepares you for many fast-growing agriculture-related careers, including:

  • Sales and marketing
  • Public relations
  • Agricultural extension
  • Natural resource conservation officer
  • Agricultural lending
  • Customer-service jobs in the agriculture industry

Agricultural engineering technology

This high-paying career focuses on the mechanical and technical side of agriculture. The agricultural engineering degree can pave the way to a variety of careers, including:

  • Safety officer
  • Technical sales representative
  • Oil and gas service industry consultant
  • Explosives technician
  • Industrial process technician
  • Quality control technician
  • Welder
  • Poultry equipment sales representative
  • Ignition systems and control technician
  • Offshore crew chief
  • U.S. Army officer
  • Airline pilot
  • High school agricultural science teacher
  • Farmer
  • Ranch manager
  • Road surface technician
  • Subsea test engineer
  • Construction company owner/manager
  • Electrician
  • Poultry processing maintenance manager

The agricultural engineering technology concentration also offers an optional teaching certification, which opens the door to an additional career path.

Animal science

Students in the animal science concentration can choose one of three unique areas of emphasis:

  • The animal science emphasis is designed for students interested in animal production, processing and marketing.
  • The equine emphasis prepares students for careers such as equine breeder, horse trainer, stable manager, equine therapist, equine veterinary technician and equine nutritionist.
  • The pre-veterinary emphasis provides students with the foundation they need to apply to veterinary school. 

Horticulture

Horticulture majors typically find careers working in greenhouses, public gardens, nurseries and landscaping companies. Typical careers for a horticulture major might include:

  • Landscape designer
  • Turfgrass manager of golf courses or sports fields
  • Floral designer
  • Arborist
  • Urban horticulturist

Poultry science

The poultry science concentration will pave the way to a career in commercial poultry production. SFA’s poultry science students have found exciting careers such as:

  • Live production technician
  • Processing supervisor
  • Pharmaceutical sales manager
  • Poultry nutritionist
  • Quality control/food safety specialist
  • Hatchery manager
  • Feed mill manager
  • Food safety inspector

Careers in fields such as poultry science typically offer competitive salaries!