Agriculture & Forestry

• Studying: 14%
• Employed in graduate job: 29%
• Employed in non-graduate job: 39%
• Unemployed: 10%

• Average graduate salary: £18,933
• Average non-graduate salary: £14,522

Over the course of your agriculture degree you will develop a wide mix of subject-specific and technical skills. This may include land use and food production and how it relates to farming practice. On some courses you have the option to study agriculture with an additional specialist route, such as mechanisation, crops, environment, animals, business management or marketing. You also study the links between agriculture and its environment and how changes in government and European Union (EU) policies affect the management and production of food.

Consider the skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

View the best universities for agriculture & forestry degrees.

Prospects

A 2010 HESA survey of 2009 graduates indicates that six months after graduation, 50% of agriculture graduates had gone into employment in the UK, with almost a further 3% in work overseas.

Of these, around 20% were working as commercial, industrial or public sector managers. Almost 16% went into professional or technical occupations, while just over 10% went into retail and catering. Other sectors entered were clerical and secretarial, marketing and sales, and scientific research and analysis.

Where are the jobs?

The major employment opportunities within agriculture are not just in farm management. Other opportunities exist with commercial ancillary companies both in the UK and abroad. Common employers of agriculture students include British Sugar, Frontier Agriculture, Soil Association, National Farmers Union, HGCA, Velcourt Farms, Co-Operative Group, Grant Thornton and HSBC Bank. 

Relevant and associated sectors to agriculture include:

• Environment and agriculture
• Engineering

There is a shortage of students with the right skills available to enter the job market. At both first degree and other undergraduate qualification levels the most popular types of jobs to move into are in quality, marketing, production, management and associated professional occupations with agriculture in the land-based sector. If you are considering ways of broadening your life experience and at the same time deepening and expanding your understanding of agriculture in settings outside the UK, you will find that specialists in agriculture and related subjects are very useful to organisations that employ agricultural students to work in Australia, Canada, America and New Zealand.

Jobs directly related to your degree

A degree in agriculture and forestry will set you up to work as a: 

• Agricultural consultant
• Farm manager

Jobs where your degree would be useful

The skills and knowledge from your agriculture and forestry degree will also prepare you for positions such as:

• Animal nutritionist
• Field trails officer
• Sales executive
• Magazine journalist or newspaper journalist

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it’s not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Included with the permission of AGCAS and Graduate Prospects. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk. We would welcome your comments on this section of The Complete University Guide. Please email us at admin@thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk.