Agriculture is not the highest-paid professional sector in the United States. Traditionally, what is known as the primary industry does not have high salary. This does not mean that some jobs might not be well paid. We take a look at the best-paid and some of the lowest-paying jobs.
It should be noted that when we speak of the average salary in agriculture, the income of the self-employed, personal or family farms, and so on, are excluded from the analysis.
Therefore, these average wage calculations are made for employed workers in the agricultural sector.
Highest-paying salary in agriculture in the United States
As is usual in any industry, also in agriculture the job with the best average salary has to do with the specialization of the job.
The higher specialization and level of responsibility, the higher the salary. Three of the highest paid jobs in US agriculture (excluding managerial positions) are:
- Data manager and analyst: the incorporation of technology in agriculture is a fact. This has multiple applications. One of them, which is in high demand, is data analysis. It is applied to aspects such as crop evolution, climatology, results, production, etc. This job has an average salary of about $100,000.
- Researcher/scientist: As with data analysis, the demand for research and development posts offers relatively high average salaries compared to other jobs in agriculture. Here again, average salaries can be found at around $100,000 in the United States. These jobs are very much oriented towards improving crop conditions, new applied technologies, etc.
- Account Manager/Financial Controller: if we think that accounting control is not relevant to jobs in the agricultural sector, we are making a serious mistake. In fact, it is a highly specialized profile and can be among the best salaries, with average wages of about $83,000.
Lowest-paying (or not so high-paying) jobs in U.S. agriculture
The lowest salaried jobs in US agriculture are often associated with lower-skilled jobs, although this is not completely true.
- Farm Hand: This would be on the most basic scale of agricultural work. It can range from seasonal work to summer jobs oriented towards assisting with skilled tasks. Average salaries can be about $36,000.
- Farm Worker: this corresponds to a worker with a certain level of specialization. It can be compared to the previous one in that they are generally medium and long-term jobs. They require a higher level of knowledge of the agricultural sector. Average salaries can be around $50,000.
- Manager or team leader: Managers, team planners, or team leaders are a key element in the development of agricultural or livestock work. In general, they tend to be workers with higher levels of specialization and professional experience. Average salaries for these workers can be around $65,000.
It should be borne in mind that skilled workers will always have a preference for these types of jobs and that their salaries will be higher the more specialized the task is.