LinkedinGoogle+YouTubeFacebookTwitter

Agriculture, Forestry, Agricultural Sciences, Food Sciences and Consumer Sciences

View the employability skills

View subject-specific skills for agriculture

View subject-specific skills for agriculture and horticulture

A graduate in agriculture, forestry, agricultural sciences, food sciences and consumer sciences typically will have the ability to:

  • demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of subject-specific facts and principles as well as an awareness of the current limits of theory and applied knowledge
  • understand the provisional nature of information and allow for competing and alternative explanations within their subject
  • own aspects of the defining elements of the discipline through in-depth study or research
  • use qualitative and quantitative information creatively and imaginatively to solve problems, suggest innovations and make decisions
  • plan and conduct research or development, evaluate the outcomes and draw valid conclusions
  • evaluate and interpret, in a balanced and critical manner, new information provided by others from a range of fields of study
  • think holistically and laterally and appreciate inductive and deductive reasoning
  • demonstrate awareness of relevant legal, moral, ethical, sustainability, environmental and social issues
  • appreciate the need for professional codes of conduct
  • use effectively skills in numeracy, communication and ICT
  • use effectively interpersonal and teamworking skills
  • develop the skills for self-management and lifelong learning e.g. working independently, time management and organisation skills
  • display the potential for competence, behaviour and attitudes required in a professional working life including initiative, leadership and team skills.

Study in this area is concerned with land-based industries, applied biology, rural studies and sciences, and consumer studies and sciences. All the degree programmes are application orientated, broadly based and require study across a spectrum of disciplines from physics and chemistry through biology to the social sciences, economics and management sciences, and consumer behaviour.

Agriculture and horticulture apply fundamental physical, biological, economic and sociological principles to sustainable production in the countryside and consider the social and environmental impacts of such management systems. Other degree programmes may be concerned with the management of companion animals, working animals and animals kept for their athletic abilities or the recreational and sporting interests of their owners. Agricultural sciences are the fundamental sciences of plants, animals, micro organisms and global processes which underpin the use of the biosphere, including the production or management of animals, crops, forest and horticultural products and the management of productive resources for economic or social value.

Food science and technology is the understanding and application of a range of sciences to satisfy the needs of society for sustainable food security, quality and safety. Rural studies apply biological, economic and sociological principles to the sustainable management of the countryside. Forestry applies physical, biological, economic and sociological principles to tree and forest management.

Consumer science and studies are interdisciplinary subjects which seek to understand the relationships between the consumer and the economic, technical, social and environmental forces which influence the development and consumption of goods and services.

The major areas of subject related employment for graduates in agriculture and related subjects are in farm management, research and advisory work; and sales and marketing of agricultural products and animal feed. Graduates in food sciences may become dieticians, food technologists, scientists, product developers, buyers, production and quality assurance managers and researchers, and managers of enterprises and businesses.

To check the growing range of resources produced by the Subject Centre to support employability and the use of this profile (including the Skills and Attributes map) go to www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk.

This profile, produced in 2006, is based on the QAA benchmark to be found at www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/honours/default.asp


> back to subject profiles