Food / Agricultural Technician

Career Area: Manufacturing and Production

Occupation Group: Production Technicians and Assistants

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Food / Agricultural Technician earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $38,618

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $39,880

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Assists agricultural and food scientists with research and testing related to safety and quality control. May focus on testing and lab analysis for animal crops and animal feed, or focus on testing and lab analysis for food, food crops, processed food, food additives and food containers.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Food / Agricultural Technician is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

• Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
• Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
• Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.
• Organizational Skills: Experience with a systematic process of structuring, integrating, co-ordinating task goals, and activities to resources in order to attain objectives.
• Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

• Fertilizers: A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin (other than liming materials) that is applied to soils or to plant tissues (usually leaves) to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants.
• Repair: Restoration of a broken, damaged, or failed device, equipment, part, or property to an acceptable operating or usable condition or state.
• Crop Production: A crop is a plant or animal product that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. Crop may refer either to the harvested parts or to the harvest in a more refined state.
• Lifting Ability: Requires Lifting Ability, which is the ability to raise and object to a higher position or level, or pick up and move an object to a different position.
• Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Food / Agricultural Technician that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

• Agronomy: Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, fiber, and land reclamation.
• Farm Equipment: Agricultural machinery is machinery used in farming or other agriculture.

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills:

• Agribusiness: Working experience of Agribusiness, which is the business of agricultural production. The term was coined in 1957 by Goldberg and Davis. It includes agrichemicals, breeding, crop production (farming and contract farming), distribution, farm machinery, processing, and seed supply, as well as marketing and retail sales. All agents of the food and fiber value chain and those institutions that influence it are part of the agribusiness system.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

• Custom Applicator
• Harvest Technician
• Eyelash Extension Technician
• Agriculture Technician
• Fertilizer Technician

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles:

• Farm / Ranch Manager
• Food and Agricultural Scientist / Technologist
• Soil / Plant Scientist
• Nursery / Greenhouse Manager