Why study agriculture at Sydney

Why study agriculture?

The Master of Agriculture and Environment trains you to solve the big challenges in the world: food security, climate change, and management of carbon, water and the environment.

With lots of professional experience in the lab and out in the field, you’ll be ready to contribute to a booming sector that generates over $150 billion a year in production, contributes around 16% of Australia's export earnings, and tackles the biggest global issues of our time.

"By studying agriculture and environment at a postgraduate level, students gain knowledge and skills in crops, soil, climate and environmental science and economics in order to understand existing natural and managed systems.

"Graduates apply their knowledge in creative ways to make changes and evaluate the effects of these changes on the future of agriculture and the planet,' explains Associate Professor Tan.

Agriculture at Sydney

Within this articulated degree you will be innovatively addressing modern-day problems, while also honing your skills in project management, communication and cross-disciplinary thinking. At the masters level, students undertake a research project as part of their studies.

You can choose from a range of specialisations depending on where your interests lie, including Agricultural and Environmental Economics, Agricultural and Environmental Technologies and Horticultural Technologies.

Importantly, the course gives you lots of hands-on experience, which helps to make you highly sought-after by employers in both the public and private sectors. 

Your studies will be bolstered by state-of-the-art facilities that are among the best in Australia. These include our Centre for Carbon, Water and Food – the first of its kind in the nation – and the world-renowned Plant Breeding Institute. In 2015, our IA Watson International Grains Research Centre became the largest regional grains research centre in the country.

Agriculture careers

Opportunities for skilled graduates are in growing fields such as:

• carbon
• water and energy trading
• food security
• food futures
• ecohydrology
• sustainability
• catchment management
• land rehabilitation
• molecular science.

Our graduates are employed in a range of industries including:

• agribusiness
• marketing firms
• merchant banks
• commodity trading companies
• environmental consultancies
• scientific research organisations around the world
• government departments
• the private sector.

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