I need your opinion on this idea that's been running rampant in my mind for the past couple of months: I am thinking of double majoring in Economics (certain so far) and Agriculture (not certain so far).
Originally, I was just planning on majoring in Economics. Then I started watching these documentaries and reading all of these online articles about the future of agriculture, and I got excited, to say the least. It seems like an exciting and growing field (pun intended) to enter, but I am uncertain about a few things:
-How rigorous is a typical agriculture major? (applying to schools like UW-Madison, UIUC, Cornell) I am thinking about Agricultural Food Production (or sustainability) or maybe just Agriculture. Would it be manageable with an Economics major? (depends on the student)
-How useful is an Agriculture major?
-I struggled in biology in high school, earning a B in both semesters; how problematic would this be, for this major?
Any tips and even personal experiences related to anything mentioned above would be awesome. Thanks!
Many schools offer agricultural economics majors or a few courses which pertain to that field. You could always do what a number of students unsure of their major and take both programs’ required courses in your first year to decide which you prefer. Join clubs for both groups, get involved in some capacity.
Keep in mind that agriculture is a vast and complex industry. Larger companies have people doing everything from food science research to geographic analysis to soil testing to logistics processes.
UMinnesota’s CFAN has such a major and its graduates have terrific professional outcomes. Another advantage is that it has generous scholarships for OOS students, which UWisconsin or UIUC don’t have (of course if you’re instate for one of them, definitely apply since they’re standout… but quite expensive from OOS.)
Cornell, of course.
McGill in Canada has such majors on its McDonald campus, also with great outcomes.
Yes, you’ll need to work hard in biology, but it’s not a deal breaker since you won’t take a lot of bio courses (also, a “B” is not equivalent to “struggling”). After all, you’ll be studying agricultural economics/agribusiness, not biology nor agriculture.
But if your family has a farm or you have passion and ability in the science of it, there is a point in pursuing it. (Some people don’t mind the idea of getting a degree in a discipline and then never working at it, but I don’t care to encourage that.)
Yeah, I might just do what whenhen suggested and get to know more about Agriculture before I decide to major in it. My family doesn’t own a farm, by the way, and I was planning on using the degree in an unconventional way. Thanks guys!
The original post specifically asked about an Agriculture major and not about an Agricultural Economics major, using the term “Agriculture” five times and the term “Agricultural Economics” never, so it behooves one to address the OP’s obvious interest in agriculture itself as a career.
That’s not what those statistics show. All they say is that for out of 19,700 people with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural or food sciences, about 2,800 of them have a occupation in the same broad field. But those statistics don’t intimate anything else - there’s no reasons given. The rest of those agriculture majors may have non-agriculture degrees because they voluntarily chose to leave agriculture, because they are applying the knowledge from their degrees in ways that aren’t considered “broad field” by the NSF (like working as a manager in a food sciences company), or for some other reason.
Also, if you look down the list, there are few STEM majors in which people are directly working within the broad field.
Sure, except 1) the OP did specifically mention the idea of double majoring in agriculture and economics, strongly implying that they wanted to do something involving both of those fields - agricultural economics and/or agribusiness was a natural conclusion to draw and 2) the implication was also that unless the OP’s family had a farm then an agriculturally-related major might not be a great idea, which I think is is a bit narrow. Agriculture is about way more than being a farmer, specifically. And it’s about way more than producing food.
Hi. I am of the belief that if you are excited about something you should explore it. My son wants to major in Agriculture and or horticulture. Many of the large state schools have Agribusiness. you could also major in Agriculture and minor in business. It would give you a broader business prospective. Good Luck and go for it. My son is a junior and is looking at PSU, OSU, Clemson, Georgia, Colorado State (first choice), and WVU. Most of the big states school have very good Ag and business.
I should retract this, since I later found that for its survey the National Science Foundation (NSF) did not regard farmers as being in a STEM occupation (http://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/recentgrads/2010/RCG2010_TTB_3.html), so the finding that most agriculture graduates are not working in a STEM field per NSF does not mean they are not working in agriculture.