The money, markets, laws, and teaching side of agriculture: the people who finance farms, trade grain, insure crops, inspect food, write farm policy, and teach the next generation.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Agricultural Economist: Studies farm markets, food prices, trade, and government programs to predict what will happen and advise decision-makers. Typical pay $115k.
Agricultural Commodity Trader: Buys and sells huge volumes of grain, soybeans, cattle, or coffee on global markets, trying to profit from price swings. Typical pay $120k.
Agricultural Attorney: Handles the legal side of farming: land deals, water rights, farm succession, contracts, and environmental rules. Typical pay $140k.
Foreign Agricultural Service Officer: Works at US embassies abroad, opening foreign markets to American farm products and reporting on world crops. Typical pay $115k.
Agricultural Cooperative General Manager: Leads a farmer-owned cooperative that sells grain, fuel, seed, and fertilizer and markets members' crops. Typical pay $150k.
County Agricultural Commissioner: Leads a county agriculture department that enforces pesticide rules, inspects crops, and protects against invasive pests. Typical pay $160k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Agricultural Lender: Lends money to farmers to buy land, equipment, seed, and livestock, and helps them plan their finances. Typical pay $75k.
Farmland Appraiser: Figures out what farms, ranches, and timberland are worth for sales, loans, taxes, and estates. Typical pay $68k.
Grain Merchandiser: Buys grain from farmers for an elevator or grain company and arranges where it gets shipped and sold. Typical pay $72k.
Crop Insurance Adjuster: Inspects fields after hail, drought, or floods to determine how much a farmer's insurance should pay. Typical pay $72k.
Agricultural Sales Representative: Sells seed, fertilizer, equipment, or animal health products to farmers and ag retailers. Typical pay $72k.
Cooperative Extension Agent: Works for a state university in a county office, teaching farmers, gardeners, and kids the latest research. Typical pay $58k.
USDA Market News Reporter: Attends auctions and collects price data on cattle, hogs, grain, and produce, publishing official daily market reports. Typical pay $70k.
Farm Service Agency Loan Officer: Makes government loans to farmers, especially beginning farmers who cannot get loans from banks. Typical pay $77k.
Agricultural Marketing Specialist: Helps sell farm products, from promoting state-grown apples to running "checkoff" programs for beef and milk. Typical pay $79k.
Commodity Checkoff Program Manager: Runs the farmer-funded programs behind ads like 'Got Milk?' and 'Beef. It's What's for Dinner,' spending a small fee from every sale on research and promotion. Typical pay $75k.
Livestock Sale Barn Manager: Runs the weekly cattle auctions where farmers sell livestock, handling the pens, the auction ring, the buyers and the money. Typical pay $60k.
Pesticide Registration Specialist: Gathers safety studies and writes the huge applications that weed killers, bug sprays and other farm chemicals need before the EPA and states allow them to be sold. Typical pay $92k.
Grower Relations Viticulturist: Works for a winery buying grapes from independent growers, visiting their vineyards and helping them grow the quality the winery wants. Typical pay $80k.
Starter: fastest way in
Agricultural Inspector: Checks farms, meat plants, ports, and food shipments to make sure they meet safety and quality laws. Typical pay $50k.
Livestock Brand Inspector: In Western states, checks the brands on cattle and horses whenever they're sold or moved to prevent theft. Typical pay $45k.
Grain Elevator Operator: Runs the towering grain elevators where farmers deliver crops, testing, weighing, drying, and storing grain. Typical pay $43k.
Agricultural Product Grader: Inspects and sorts eggs, fruit, cotton, or meat by size and quality. Typical pay $35k.
Farm Broadcaster: Reports agricultural news, weather, and crop markets on radio, TV, and podcasts for farm audiences. Typical pay $47k.
Cotton Classer: Grades bales of cotton by feel, look, and machine testing to set the price farmers receive. Typical pay $45k.
Grain Inspector: Samples and grades grain at elevators and export terminals so buyers know exactly what they are getting. Typical pay $50k.
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.