What does an agricultural specialist do?
Agricultural specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real agricultural specialist resumes:
- Manage the cover crop program and nursery.
- Manage FDA regulate products requirements for ISO2000 quality assurance.
- Participate in all aspects of greenhouse and laboratory management.
- Utilize GPS technology to mark locations of trial products and insect traps.
- Process and analyze data collect from laboratory, greenhouse and field experiments.
- Determine program eligibility for Medicaid, food stamp and cash benefits in accordance with current regulations using the computer-based eligibility system.
- Design and testing of an organic, hydroponic livestock feed system.
- Design process of steam distillation to extract essential oils from certain herbs and other plant biomass.
- Maintain department SharePoint site including site administration.
Agricultural specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Agricultural Specialists are proficient in Commodities, Harvest, and USDA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Physical stamina, Interpersonal skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Agricultural Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Commodities, 15%
Identified commodities via taxonomy and their potential use as an agent of agricultural-terrorism.
- Harvest, 12%
Designed or supervised design\ build of wagons, citrus harvest aide, planters, field equipment, ramps and elevators.
- USDA, 9%
Possessed federal USDA licenses for poultry and shell egg grading in processing plants within the state of Louisiana.
- AG, 8%
Sell, Service and Install Precision Ag Equipment Create Variable Rate Prescriptions, Use As Applied and Yield Data.
- Data Entry, 8%
Processed registry participant enrollments, created and monitored participant invoices, data entry, filing and drafted correspondence.
- CBP, 7%
Visited various airport businesses that had Compliance Agreements with CBP and ensured that no Compliance Violations were found.
Most agricultural specialists use their skills in "commodities," "harvest," and "usda" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential agricultural specialist responsibilities here:
Physical stamina. The most essential soft skill for an agricultural specialist to carry out their responsibilities is physical stamina. This skill is important for the role because "agricultural and food science technicians who work in manufacturing or agricultural settings may need to stand for long periods, lift objects, and generally perform physical labor." Additionally, an agricultural specialist resume shows how their duties depend on physical stamina: "conducted visual and physical inspections of cargo, conveyance, or passenger baggage inspected textile products arriving at united states border. "
Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling agricultural specialist duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "agricultural and food science technicians need to work well with others." According to an agricultural specialist resume, here's how agricultural specialists can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "developed lasting client relationships by applying effective communication and interpersonal skills in resolving problems and responding to customer inquiries. "
Analytical skills. agricultural specialists are also known for analytical skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to agricultural specialist responsibilities, because "agricultural and food science technicians must conduct a variety of observations and on-site measurements, all of which require precision, accuracy, and math skills." An agricultural specialist resume example shows how analytical skills is used in the workplace: "assist in supervision of field, farm, lab and data entry operations. "
Communication skills. agricultural specialist responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "agricultural and food science technicians must understand and give clear instructions, keep detailed records, and, occasionally, write reports." This resume example shows what agricultural specialists do with communication skills on a typical day: "generated communications to comply with fmla regulations and customer procedures. "
The three companies that hire the most agricultural specialists are:
- Pictsweet Farms1 agricultural specialists jobs
- Louisiana State Police
1 agricultural specialists jobs
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Compare different agricultural specialists
Agricultural specialist vs. Insect control aide
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, agricultural specialist responsibilities require skills like "commodities," "harvest," "usda," and "ag." Meanwhile a typical insect control aide has skills in areas such as "public safety," "pedestrian traffic," "emergency vehicle," and "traffic signals." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, insect control aides reach lower levels of education than agricultural specialists. Insect control aides are 12.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Agricultural specialist vs. Plant control aide
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that agricultural specialist responsibilities requires skills like "commodities," "harvest," "usda," and "ag." But a plant control aide might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "mowing," "cnc," "access database," and "financial data."
Plant control aides earn similar levels of education than agricultural specialists in general. They're 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for agricultural specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Mike Thornton Ph.D.
Parma Chair and Professor, University of Idaho
Agricultural specialist vs. Seed laboratory assistant
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an agricultural specialist is likely to be skilled in "commodities," "harvest," "usda," and "ag," while a typical seed laboratory assistant is skilled in "aosa," "test results," "seed samples," and "place orders."
Most seed laboratory assistants achieve a lower degree level compared to agricultural specialists. For example, they're 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 3.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Agricultural specialist vs. Urban gardening specialist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between agricultural specialists and urban gardening specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an agricultural specialist might have more use for skills like "commodities," "harvest," "usda," and "ag." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of urban gardening specialists require skills like "to-go," "plant identification," "pest control," and "composting. "
In general, urban gardening specialists hold lower degree levels compared to agricultural specialists. Urban gardening specialists are 11.0% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Updated January 8, 2025
