How To Become A Field Agronomist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a field agronomist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

John Reganold

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a field agronomist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.3 an hour? That's $35,988 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 3,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What's a day at work look like for a field agronomist?

John Reganold

Professor, Washington State University

In my fields of Soil Science and Organic & Sustainable Agriculture, which can have both an outdoor (field-based) and office component, probably a week might look like 4 x 10-hour days, with at least one to two days being outdoors with farmers, foresters, city planners, and others.

ScoreField AgronomistUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,988

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 9.38%

Black or African American 3.66%

Hispanic or Latino 5.95%

Unknown 2.75%

White 78.03%

Gender

female 6.38%

male 93.62%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a field agronomist

Explore field agronomist education requirements

Most common field agronomist degrees

Bachelor's

69.0 %

Associate

19.0 %

Master's

11.9 %

Start to develop specific field agronomist skills

Skills	Percentages
Harvest	73.60%
CCA	26.40%

Complete relevant field agronomist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New field agronomists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a field agronomist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real field agronomist resumes.

Research field agronomist duties and responsibilities

Lead all agronomy relate functions including fertility management, irrigation.
Schedule harvest base on weather conditions, plague presence, maturity of the crop and establish deadlines.
Receive CCA certification and train representatives/dealers in agronomics.
Develop a USDA/Aphis environmental assessment for the deregulation of a genetically modify lepidoperan resistant cotton variety by the USDA.

Prepare your field agronomist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your field agronomist resume.

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