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Careers in agricultural and food sciences

Discover where studying at Australia's #1 university can take you.

Australia’s agricultural sector is estimated to be worth over $66 billion and continues to expand and thrive.

Whether you’d like to improve food security, animal health or practice sustainable agriculture, the degrees and opportunities available at the University of Melbourne will prepare you for a lasting and impactful career.

You’ll stand out from the crowd with skills in communication, laboratory testing, quality assurance and control, sample preparation, and teamwork and collaboration. During your studies you’ll become familiar with industry software such as SAP, MATLAB, Python, LabVIEW – just to name a few.

Industry/market salary guide

$76,491 per year

is the average food science graduate salary in Australia

Entry-level positions start at $74,465 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $191,788 per year.

$112,930 per year

is the average agriculture salary in Australia

Entry-level positions start at $102,585 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $153,705 per year.

2,412

advertised jobs in food science in 2023

Source: EmployMe (2024) and au.talent.com (2026)

Where do our graduates go?

Opportunities are diverse and plentiful, and our degrees are designed to help graduates find employment in a unique range of fields including agronomy, biosecurity and crop production, banking and rural finance, consultancy, international aid, public policy, research and value chain management.

Employers can include: Agriculture Victoria, The Australian and Victorian governments, Aurora Dairies, Australian Country Choice (ACC), Costa Group, CSL Limited, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Lactalis, Lawson Grains, NorVicFoods, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Warakirri Cropping.

Three people in blue coats and hair nets pouring milk into a stainless steel vat.
Portrait of Scarett Cuthbertson
I learned so many skills and amassed a great deal of knowledge regarding all facets of the Australian agricultural industry. My hands-on experience at Dookie Campus and on exchange at the University of Reading further bolstered my practical knowledge, especially the dairy industry and variances between international systems. Scarlett Cuthbertson

Get your career started

Studying agricultural and food sciences at the University of Melbourne will equip you with specialist skills to solve global challenges and feed the world – literally.

You may consider the Bachelor of Science with a major such as Agricultural Science, Animal Science and Management, or Food Science. Or perhaps the Bachelor of Agriculture, which offers majors in Production Animal Science, Agricultural Economics, and Plant and Soil Science. These programs are designed in consultation with industry and are a foundational first step towards becoming an agricultural or food science expert.

Study agricultural and veterinary sciences