How To Turn Growing into a Career

How To Earn A Living Growing!

With the ever expanding concrete world, growing plants can be a very useful and influential career option. The world is falling short on greenery, and needs plantation in abundance. And if you love to work in the open and prefer grass and plant life over concrete structures or confined desk jobs, then choosing a career in Horticulture can be very satisfying for you. Horticulture is a huge career field with jobs that can range from gardening, to farming, to teaching agriculture, the choices are vast. Getting into and building a career in horticulture depends greatly on your interest level and the particular job you wish to take up. Some careers may need a degree, while in others all you would require to have is experience and willingness to work in that particular field. To work as a gardener it might not be necessary to have a university degree, but for a career which requires more knowledge or level of expertise, you would be required to have a degree. It is very essential that learned people are in the profession and available around, to be able to guide others in the sector to be able to grow better. Working in horticulture can be creative as well as scientific. Some careers specializes in conservation and research which focuses more on environmental problems, while others require design and planning expertise while keeping beauty and functionality in mind.

Some career options in growing are horticulture, agriculture, arboriculture and botany.

Horticulture

Working as a horticulturist would require you to manage large landscapes or parks, but the focus of a horticulturist would be more on caring for plants and trees. In horticulture you would be working on projects related to new crops and solving environment related problems. These involves pest control initiatives, and the study of certain types of plant population. Horticulturists are required to work in both the field and in laboratory setting as they perform tests and analyzes data. To work in the horticulture industry, you would typically need to have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in plant science, botany or any such related degrees. Working in horticulture requires very good people management skills, and also to have vast knowledge of gardening and plants.

Agriculture

Agriculture includes farming, aquaculture or hydroponics, plant breeding, and specialty growing such as viticulture. When working as an agricultural professional, you would need to be both indoors and outdoors. A career in agriculture can take you beyond farming. The agriculture industry also has scopes for bioprocessing and irrigation engineers, soil scientists and plant geneticists. The educational requirements for an agricultural professional are different for different level of jobs. For a root level worker, educational qualifications might not be very necessary, but for most jobs in the agriculture sector, an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree is very valuable.

Arboriculture

Arboriculture is the cultivation and study of individual trees, shrubs and vines. In arboriculture, the professional is most often responsible for caring and managing trees in a designated area. An arborist is responsible for looking after all plantation, pruning and removal of trees in that particular area. Arborists are generally employed in organizations that specialize in tree care, cultivation and removal. An arborist is required to have at least a bachelor’s degree.

Botany

Botany is that segment of biology that studies all about plants. It focuses on plant’s relationship with the environment, the life cycle of plants, and the discovery and conservation of certain species of plants. A botanist researches about plants and plays a vital role in the growth and sustaining of certain species. A bachelor’s degree is a must for a botanist, and a master’s degree and later on doctorate degree is deemed valuable for advanced positions.

There are numerous other career options such as forestry, forest science, forestry consultancy, soil science, plant genetics, and many more. Growing can be a fun and enjoyable profession, while being a very helpful one for the environment and mankind.