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Horticultural Plant Breeding

Types of Degrees Horticultural Plant Breeding Majors Are Earning

Students pursuing Horticultural Plant Breeding may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Bachelor’s Degree	3
Master’s Degree	16
Doctor’s Degree	20

What Horticultural Plant Breeding Majors Need to Know

Programs in Horticultural Plant Breeding emphasize a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in Horticultural Plant Breeding emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Biology — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.4 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 5.6 / 7.
• Administration and Management — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 4.0 / 7.
• Mathematics — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

The skill set developed in a Horticultural Plant Breeding program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.9 / 7.
• Active Learning — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to Horticultural Plant Breeding careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Oral Expression — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 5.4 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Deductive Reasoning — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	4.4 / 7
Getting Information	4.4 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	4.4 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.3 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	4.3 / 7
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events	4.2 / 7
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.2 / 7
Working with Computers	4.2 / 7
Documenting/Recording Information	4.1 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	4.1 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Horticultural Plant Breeding professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Word processing software	Word processing software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	—
Data management software	Data base user interface and query software	—
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
iParadigms Turnitin	Information retrieval or search software	—
Course management system software	Computer based training software	—
Blackboard Learn	Computer based training software	—
Calendar and scheduling software	Calendar and scheduling software	—
Sakai CLE	Computer based training software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates include:

• Irrigation Teacher
• Fisheries Instructor
• Animal Nutrition Teacher
• Agribusiness Professor
• Soil Conservation Teacher
• Floriculture Professor
• Animal Husbandry Professor
• Agriculture Teacher
• Agricultural Engineering Technology Instructor
• Agricultural Economics Professor
• Professor
• Agronomy Professor
• Agricultural Science Teacher
• Agriculture Professor
• Agronomy Instructor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Doctoral degree	41.9%
Master’s degree	19.4%
Post-doctoral training	18.8%
Bachelor’s degree	9.7%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	2.6%
Post-master’s certificate	2.3%
First professional degree	1.8%
Postsecondary certificate	1.8%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	1.8%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in Horticultural Plant Breeding?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly male, with men earning 66.7% of Horticultural Plant Breeding degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	13	33.3%
Men	26	66.7%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	19	48.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3	7.7%
Black or African American	2	5.1%
Two or More Races	1	2.6%
International Students	14	35.9%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do Horticultural Plant Breeding Graduates Earn?

The U.S. Department of Education tracks median earnings of Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. Wages typically rise steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$45,321
4 years	$49,331
5 years	$56,395

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $56,395 — roughly 24% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Online Horticultural Plant Breeding Programs

Fully online options is tracked by IPEDS for Horticultural Plant Breeding. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Bachelor’s	1	0
Master’s	1	1
Doctoral (Research)	1	0

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Is a Degree in Horticultural Plant Breeding Worth It?

Looking purely at the federal earnings tracker, Horticultural Plant Breeding graduates earn a median of $49,331 four years after completion — roughly 30% above the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000).

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
Plant Sciences	01.11
Agronomy and Crop Science	01.1102
Horticultural Science	01.1103
Plant Protection and Integrated Pest Management	01.1105
Plant Sciences, General	01.1101
Plant Sciences, Other	01.1199
Range Science and Management	01.1106
Reserved	01.1180
Agriculture, General	01.0000
Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture	01.0308
Soil Chemistry and Physics	01.1202
Soil Microbiology	01.1203

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.