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Science and Research | Soil / Plant Scientist

Soil / Plant Scientist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Soil or Plant Scientist studies soil composition and nutrition, the impact of soil treatment practices on plant or crop growth, and soil conservation and management methods relevant to farming and forestry.

Job Outlook

There were 151 Soil / Plant Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4554 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Soil / Plant Scientist industry, which includes the Soil / Plant Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Soil / Plant Scientist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $72,185.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,201.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Soil / Plant Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $60,806.

Education and Experience

Posted Soil / Plant Scientist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree38.16%
Master's Degree23.74%
Doctoral Degree25.1%
Other9.57%

Posted Soil / Plant Scientist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years53.23%
3 to 5 years36.84%
6 to 8 years4.88%
9+ years5.05%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Soil / Plant Scientist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Research (55.45%)
  • Management (30.41%)
  • Communication (30.32%)
  • Operations (17.06%)
  • Writing (16.38%)
  • Leadership (13.9%)
  • Planning (13.15%)
  • Detail Oriented (12.89%)
  • Presentations (10.96%)
  • Lifting Ability (10.43%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Agronomy (31.23%)
  • Plant Science (22.1%)
  • Agriculture (33.05%)
  • Histology (1.14%)
  • Embedding (0.11%)
  • Microtome (0.14%)
  • Crop Production (8.39%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Laboratory Experience (4.93%)
  • Laboratory Equipment (5.91%)
  • Data Analysis (14.06%)
  • Botany (16.13%)
  • Biology (41.47%)
  • Fertilizers (5.99%)
  • Physiology (6.19%)
  • Chemistry (13.05%)
  • Data Collection (20.03%)
  • Medical Laboratory (0.6%)
  • Pathology (1.34%)
  • Immunohistochemistry (0.65%)
  • Marketing (4.14%)
  • Soil Science (30%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Tissue Preparation (0.19%)
  • Plant Breeding (7.77%)
  • Plant Physiology (7.79%)
  • Precision Agriculture (3.11%)
  • Crop Management (4.14%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Soil / Plant Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Agronomist
  • Botanist
  • Research Physiologist
  • Biological Science Technician
  • Soil Scientist
  • Field Agronomist
  • Technical Agronomist
  • Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Postdoctoral Associate
  • Postdoctoral Researcher

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Soil / Plant Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Pennsylvania State University (112)
  • Oregon State University (101)
  • Bayer (98)
  • University of Georgia (95)
  • Natural Resources Conservation Service (91)
  • Cornell University (78)
  • University of Minnesota (77)
  • Agricultural Research Service (72)
  • GPAC (71)
  • Land O'Lakes (65)

North Carolina

  • North Carolina State University (39)
  • North Carolina State Of (28)
  • Atrium Health Floyd (4)
  • Adecco (4)
  • East Carolina University (4)
  • University of North Carolina (4)
  • eTeam Inc (3)
  • State of North Carolina (3)
  • BASF (3)
  • University of Arkansas Community College Rich Mountain (2)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.