The agricultural industry has many jobs available, particularly when considering the broad agribusiness industry rather than just farming and ranching. As in many industries, the highest-paid roles in the agricultural industry are those that require technical expertise, advanced degrees, and management responsibilities. Lower-paid jobs are generally those that require more hands-on and direct labor, like being a pole barn builder or working on a farm, ranch, or forest. An exception to this trend is agricultural machinery technicians, who maintain and repair agricultural machinery and implements.
The middle-level of best-paying jobs in agriculture are roles that require some specialization and education but do not involve high-level management or decision-making. Many such jobs require biology, chemistry, food science, or engineering expertise. However, they focus on specific locations or products and do not have the widespread implications of the highest-paying jobs. You can think of these as mid-level professional or management roles.
The highest-paying jobs in the agricultural industry include roles such as veterinarians, biostatisticians, clinical research directors, and others who need advanced degrees, including doctoral degrees, to enter the field. While typically working as part of a larger organization, these jobs require you to conduct evaluations and make decisions with substantial economic or other impacts, in addition to a likely need to manage others performing similar work. These jobs often broadly impact the industry.
