Plant Scientist
Job Summary
Responsible for undertaking research and working to ensure that agricultural practices result in an abundance of nutritious food in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
Primary Responsibilities
- Organize planting, harvesting and other agronomic operations in the field or greenhouse.
- Perform tasks and experiments in the field and/or greenhouse.
- Organize and maintain inventory stocks of necessary breeding lines.
- Organize seed shipments.
- Work to ensure there is enough food for growing populations.
- Help maintain nation's food supply.
- Look for ways to improve crop yield with less labor, control pests and weeds more safely and effectively.
- Research ways to conserve soil and water.
- Collect samples in the field.
- Look for ways to use agricultural products for fuels.
- Study plants in order to help producers of food, animal feed, and fiber crops to feed a growing population and conserve natural resources.
- Help increase productivity.
- Study ways to improve the nutritional value of crops and the quality of seed, through biotechnology.
- Study the breeding, physiology, and management of crops and use genetic engineering to develop crops that are resistant to pests and to drought.
- Develop new technologies to control or eliminate pests and prevent their spread in ways appropriate to the specific environment.
- Perform research to understand the biological and chemical processes by which crops grow, such as determining the role of a particular gene in plant growth.
- Discover mechanisms to improve the quality, quantity, or safety of agricultural products.
- Manage or administer research and development programs.
- Manage marketing or production operations in companies that produce agricultural chemicals, seeds, and machinery.
- Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates.
