Agriculture

What Skills Will I Gain?

Depending on your degree pathway, you will develop valuable skills such as:

Agricultural business development
Livestock management
Policy design
Agronomy
Disease management
International awareness

Biosciences Core Graduate Competencies

You will also develop 12 competencies which have been divided into these four headings:

Fundamental skills
Interpersonal skills
Personal aspiration and development
Professional responsibility

Explore the Biosciences Core Graduate Competencies

How Can I Develop My Skills?

Employers often seek a range of transferable skills, such as communication, problem-solving, and teamwork, in addition to the subject-specific skills and knowledge you will gain during your degree. Below are some ideas of how to develop these transferable skills during your degree; make sure you look at the ‘What can I do?’ pages for even more ideas.

Typical employers in this sub-sector

Farms and agricultural contractors

The National Farmers Union website produces and job vacancy database, and a directory of relevant organisations.

Government departments

Various Government departments and bodies focus on different areas of the agri-food industry:

Research institutions and organisations

Agri-food is a fast-paced industry facing a range of environmental and consumer-related issues that require innovative research solutions.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a scheme where graduates work with an academic or research organisation to support a UK business on a specific project focused on innovation for 12 – 36 months. Innovate UK list vacancies and have further news and information on their website
Viewing the relevant agri-food vacancies on Jobs.ac.uk will give you an idea of the various research organisations and departments.
ADAS is the UK's largest independent provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy, rural development services and policy advice.
Government list of centres for agricultural innovation (including Agrimetics, crop health, livestock and agricultural engineering). Each website this leads to is different, but navigating will lead to opportunities and/or lists of institutions and organisations involved.
One of Europe’s leading Biotech clusters is based around the Cambridge area, with several research and industrial organisations close together.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) supports research, people and institutions.

Roles

Visit Tasty Careers for a detailed list of job descriptions, both graduate and non-graduate, across the industry.

There are also several relevant job profiles in the environmental and agriculture sector on the Prospects website including:

Demand for specialist roles that combine disciplines is growing, for example using bioinformatics to analyse data and programming skills for simulations.

Prospects - graduate opportunities in agriculture

Agricultural sciences and business management students move into a wide range of different careers after graduation, including farm management, consultancy, agronomy and farm trading, agricultural policy, academia, marketing and communications, starting a new business and various roles in the food industry.

Some of the employers who have recruited our graduates

Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB)
Animal and Plant Agency
Brown & Co
Cargill
Evolution Foods
Frontier Agriculture
Hazlewoods
Holkham Farming
IDEXX
Langmead Produce
Moundsmere Estate Management
Pro Cam
Strutt and Parker

Some of the roles secured by our graduates

Agricultural assurance manager
Agricultural business consultant
Farm business consultant
Graduate consultant
Graduate farm manager
Graduate trainee, supply
Histology lab scientist
Pig and poultry nutritionist
Plant health and seed inspector
Trainee accountant
Trainee agronomist

Qualifications

While there are specialist degrees available, many of the roles across the agri-food industry will be relevant to those with a biology, chemistry, engineering or healthcare-related degree.

You may find that a masters qualification is an advantageous way to build your specialist knowledge, particularly if the role you wish to apply for is a technical one.

For research roles, a PhD may be required.

Skills

Specific skills will vary between different jobs, but a career in this industry is likely to require the following:

The ability to formulate and communicate ideas
Negotiating, marketing skills to support new product/business development
Role-specific technical and analytical skills
The ability to conduct work safely and ethically, and to explain it clearly
Strong communications skills – able to work collaboratively with colleagues and to build effective relationships with customers/clients
Enthusiasm and commitment

Recruitment processes

Large recruiters such as supermarkets or Government departments will have clearly defined and well-advertised graduate recruitment processes, often starting their recruitment in the autumn term, prior to graduation for roles starting the following summer.

Smaller organisations such as specialist retailers, research consultancies, agricultural businesses, etc, are more likely to recruit as demand arises.

Vacancy sources

Specialist recruitment agencies and job boards include:

Farmers Weekly
Jobs section searchable by type of job

Agricultural & Farming Jobs
One of the sector's specialist jobs boards

Jobs.ac.uk
Advertises research roles within the agri-food industry

More People - recruitment agency covering the fresh food, horticulture, agriculture and garden industry sectors

De Lacy – recruitment agency in global agricultural recruitment

Each year a number of agriculture graduates start postgraduate courses either at Nottingham or at other universities. Some examples of the types of courses Nottingham graduates study include MSc Agri-Food, PhD Crop Science, PhD Sustainable soil management and accountancy training courses.

Search for courses and find out about funding

Thinking about a PhD? How to get started and how to apply

In these two videos, Dr Judith Wayte from the University of Nottingham provides clear and wide-ranging advice on:

how to get started: what to take into account, and how to gather relevant information
on the application process and how to prepare for interviews

Login to SharePoint to watch the webinar

Alumni: Email us to gain access to the webinar

Gaining relevant and practical work experience can help support you with securing a job after graduation. Contacting the University Farm managers or staff is a great way to build on your hands-on farming experience right here on Sutton Bonington campus. Hands-on experience is useful for any role in the agricultural industry. You could also think about harvest or lambing positions during university vacations.

Year in industry

Why not take an optional industry placement, between years two and three of your degree? This will extend your degree to a four-year programme.

Find out more about the year in industry

Summer internships

Summer internships are also a great way to gain experience, whether in science or non-science based roles. Search for roles:

Contact companies directly

Approach companies for work experience opportunities. Several agronomy companies have said they’re happy for Nottingham students to approach them and arrange to shadow one of their agronomists for a day or two. As well as giving you an insight into the role, this would be a great addition to your CV.

Summer research placements

f you’re interested in the scientific side of your degree, summer research placements might be a good option for you. You can find these through the School of Biosciences by approaching a relevant academic who is working in the area you are interested in.

There are also sponsored opportunities and funding for summer research placements, visit:

Students’ Union activities

Involvement in relevant SU activities including volunteering, sports clubs and societies can help you to develop and enhance skills that employers look for such as working in multidisciplinary teams, communicating scientific information to a non-science audience and consulting with local businesses.

Nottingham Advantage Award

The Nottingham Advantage Award offers a range of modules to help you expand, develop and evidence your skills and experience during your time at university. With over more than 200 modules across our three campus in the UK, China and Malaysia, there's something for everyone.

If you’re thinking of moving into consultancy after graduation, the Nottingham Consultancy Challenge module will help you develop and demonstrate all the right skills.

Explore Nottingham Advantage Award modules

Stay updated with Industry News

Knowing about the latest developments is important for a couple of reasons: firstly it may spark off your interest in a particular part of the sector and secondly, employers often ask questions about the factors that may be affecting their company at an interview as a way of gauging your interest in their business. Try the following resources - check out any events or directories of employers too.