Within Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources, you’ll find careers ranging from farming or food production, to land management, soil science, conservation, and sustainability. This industry cluster is one of 16 that the U.S. Department of Labor tracks to monitor employment. Like other clusters, it covers many careers and multiple industries and some may overlap other categories. Learn more about the U.S. Department of Labor’s industry clusters and their economic outlook.
Adults using these resources to help students explore careers may also find it helpful to use the Career Journeys Supplemental Materials we’ve prepared for teachers and counselors.
Applying hard science to social issues
As a scientist at the intersection of science and policy, Neil Brown enjoys “simplifying the complicated and complicating the simple.”
Food Bank farm brings social worker back to her roots
Farming, social justice, sustainability, and racial equity may seem loosely, if at all, related, but in her role as Agriculture Innovation and Farm Manager for the Greater Washington County Food Bank, Morgan Livingston brings them together.
Pursuing a passion for sustainability
Zaheen Hussain learned the importance of sustainability when he realized climate change contributed to a disastrous cyclone that he lived through in Bangladesh.
Openness to change can turn entry-level job into career ladder
Before becoming ALCOSAN’s Industrial Waste Manager, Christina Dean learned about the sanitary authority in jobs ranging from clerical and lab science to driving tri-axle trucks.
Farming can provide a sense of daily accomplishment
A part-time farmer, Lee Scott loves agriculture because it gives him a deep and abiding connection with the land and animals.
Preserving nature amid the built environment
As a Program Manager with Oasis Farm & Fishery in Homewood, Tacumba Turner is using his background in horticulture to build community.
Learning what a community needs and wants
The mantra of an Environmental Justice Organizer like Kat Bakrania is “Follow the money, confront the power, make the change!”
Zookeepers do more than care for animals
As a zookeeper with responsibility for the big cats at the Philadelphia Zoo, Kay Buffamonte has been captivated by lions since childhood. But she’s the first to tell you there’s more to the job than lions, tigers, and pumas.
Change doesn’t come overnight
Key skills needed in law are “attention to detail, reading, and writing,” said Ned Mulcahy, a Staff Attorney for Group Against Smog and Pollution. In environmental law, he said, you can add one more: patience.
Retiring into an entirely different career
Guido Girimonti had a whole career in safety, as an EMT and firefighter, before retiring early to become a Land Manager for the Allegheny Land Trust where he says “the woods is my office.”
Food for thought
From finding ways to strengthen farmers’ markets across the region, to thinking about improvements in meat processing, Sam Applefield likes that his job brings people together around issues related to food.
Finding a different path for working with animals
As Education Program Director for Allegheny Land Trust, Julie Travaglini wears many hats. One day she might be indoors writing lesson plans or grants, and the next she’s in the field immersing groups of students in nature.
Veterinarians and beyond
For Dr. Cynthia Maro, the path to owning and practicing in two holistic veterinary centers has been a “long and winding road” that began on her family’s farm.
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