Agricultural Communication
About the Major
Agricultural Communication majors learn to develop and present compelling stories. They study methods of capturing and sharing the agriculture industry with the public through sales and services, government affairs, leadership roles, marketing, and public relations. Graduates are communicators who advance and advocate for the agricultural industry in a global economy.
Degree Information
Coursework:
Students take coursework in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science and Math and the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. They study animal and plant science, media relations, journalism technique, agriculture production, communication and presentation styles, and how to navigate issues impacting agriculture. Click here to see the AC major curriculum.
Labs:
Students take a variety of lab courses. Labs are designed to engage with agriculture through hands-on Learn by Doing and expand the student’s level of connection to agriculture.
Agricultural communication majors take labs including animal science, crop production, new media methods, holistic management, graphic communication, agriculture engineering, dairy science, soil science, plant science, graphic communication, food processing, and food safety.
Minors:
The major provides for 7-8 units of free electives. Many agricultural communication majors successfully complete a minor in one of several areas: Agribusiness, Law and Society, Event Planning and Experience Management, Graphic Communication, Agricultural Education, Agricultural Leadership and others.
Career Opportunities
Alumni have gone on to work as social media directors, sales coordinators, harvest supervisors, advertising agency account executives, marketing specialists, attorneys, and commodity board staff.
Companies where graduates are applying their skills and passions, include The Wonderful Company, Driscoll’s, FleishmanHillard, World Wide Sires, Global Cold Chain Alliance, John Deere, Taylor Farms, Dole Food Company, Church Brothers Farms, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, pursue family operations or become business entrepreneurs.
Graduates are sought-after by other institutions for advance study. Several graduates in agricultural communication have furthered their education by earning master’s degrees from Kansas State, University of Florida, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State University, and University Nevada, Reno. They studied mass communications, journalism, agricultural communication, and leadership development.
Our Program
The mission and vision of the Agricultural Education and Communication Department is to develop leaders, educators, and communicators to advance and advocate for the agricultural industry in a global economy. Students pursuing the agricultural communication major earn a bachelor’s of science degree.
As a capstone experience, agricultural communication majors complete an industry internship and produce a senior project highlighting their agriculture skills and passions. Internships and senior projects range from providing marketing materials about the application of science, management, fiber and natural resource systems to partnering with commodity boards to capture and share compelling stories of agriculture. Our graduates help shape public opinion about this billion-dollar industry.
In addition to the department's long history of leadership and service to the state's agricultural education profession, it also boasts California's only agricultural communication major, widely considered one of the country's premier undergraduate programs. Through a partnership with the university's Brock Center for Agricultural Communication, plus unique Learn by Doing opportunities, students gain the necessary knowledge to be effective communicators who are fully equipped to promote agriculture and serve the needs of the industry.