How To Become A Plant Breeder Scientist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a plant breeder scientist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a plant breeder scientist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $35.2 an hour? That's $73,225 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 3,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePlant Breeder ScientistUS Average

Salary

5.7

Avg. Salary $73,225

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 58.33%

male 41.67%

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 plant breeder scientist

Explore plant breeder scientist education requirements

Most common plant breeder scientist degrees

Bachelor's

60.9 %

Master's

17.4 %

Doctorate

8.7 %

Start to develop specific plant breeder scientist skills

Skills	Percentages
Laboratory Procedures	25.66%
USDA	22.87%
Disease Resistance	21.63%
GC	15.42%
PCR	14.42%

Complete relevant plant breeder scientist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New plant breeder scientists 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 plant breeder scientist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real plant breeder scientist resumes.

Research plant breeder scientist duties and responsibilities

Develop and manage third party claim investigations and contractor remedial oversight for various insurance companies.
Conduct technology comparison study to assess applicability of a wide range of chromatography products to support specific HTS assays.
Analyze parallel synthesis libraries using high-throughput LC/MS methods with UV/ELS detection including mass determination, purity evaluation, and quantification.

Prepare your plant breeder scientist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your plant breeder scientist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a plant breeder scientist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable plant breeder scientist resume templates

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