Jobs in Agricultural Education

It has been said that those who can, do and those who can’t, teach. This isn’t necessarily true when it comes to agricultural education. In this field, most educators have vast experience working in this industry, as classroom learning means little without hands-on experience.

Many teachers turn to education after working in another part of agricultural for many years.

There are four many kinds of agricultural educators. Elementary agricultural educators work with children, usually under the age of 12, to teach them about how food is produced. While this may seem like an easy job, as the information isn’t very technical or hard for an adult to understand, the challenge is how to present agricultural concepts in a way that is interesting and easy to understand without being boring. Most elementary schools don’t hire teachers who only teach about agricultural, but if this is an area that interests you, you can work in science education or work for a corporation or government department that has outreach programs to help educate children.

You can also work in secondary education. Most public and private high schools have agricultural teachers, and some vocational schools have entire agricultural programs, so there are more job opportunities in these areas. In addition, there are some outreach programs in this area as well, though they are not as popular as corporate-run or government-run education programs for children.

Higher education is another place where you can seek an agricultural teaching job. If you work for an elementary or secondary school, you likely only need a bachelor’s degree to get a job, but you’ll need a master’s degree or doctorate in this field to work as a professor. Keep in mind also that many college, even online schools and community colleges, want to hire professors with a lot of experience in the agricultural industry. So, having a background in secondary or elementary agricultural education may not be enough to land a job.

There are also general agricultural education jobs available. These jobs include farmer training for those who want to work with specific corporations, on-site training with new machinery, public awareness educational programs through the government, illness prevention programs through medical facilities, and more. You may not need a degree in education to get one of these jobs; it is often more important that you have a degree in your specific area of expertise, as well as job experience.

Check out the JobMonkey’s Teaching Jobs guide to learn more about careers in education.