Also called: Plant Disease Specialist, Plant Doctor
Diagnoses and fights diseases that attack crops, trees, and gardens.
A box of sick tomato plants arrives at your diagnostic lab. You look at leaf spots under a microscope, grow the fungus in a petri dish, and confirm with a DNA test. Then you advise growers on how to stop it spreading before it wipes out a harvest.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Doctorate (PhD), about 8 years after high school. Master's or PhD in plant pathology.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Plant Pathology, Plant Biology, Microbiology.
Growing faster than average (about 5% over 10 years). Soil and plant scientists.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI photo apps diagnose common crop diseases; new pathogens, lab work and research stay human, but routine diagnosis thins.
Classes: AP Biology, Chemistry, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-1013.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.