MSU Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics  Graduate Education > Careers for Agricultural Economists

Careers for agricultural economists

A graduate degree in agricultural economics from Michigan State University will prepare you to face the significant challenges of the 21st Century, including:

  • designing policies to attack rural poverty and hunger;
  • managing food and farm businesses in a global setting;
  • resolving increasing pressures on the world's resource base;
  • working across disciplines with biologists and other social scientists to evaluate new technologies and policies; and
  • adding to the knowledge base of theory and methods in agricultural economics.

Agricultural Economics graduates work in university agricultural economics departments (primarily true of Ph.D. holders), but also in major food and agribusiness companies (H-E-B Grocery Stores, Delta Pinelands, Eli Lily, Archer Daniels Midland), financial institutions (American Express), foundations (Rockefeller, Kellogg), charitable organizations (World Vision, Bread for the World), international organizations (World Bank, United Nations, FAO), international agricultural research centers (CIMMYT, ICRISAT), and government organizations (USAID, USDA).

Jobs taken by recent MSU graduates illustrate this diversity.

See also the "Careers in Agricultural Economics" Web page on the American Agricultural Economics Association Web site.

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Updated on August 4, 2004