Agriculture & food systems

Agricultural Production Operations

South Dakota State University · Brookings, SD

Medium evidenceMatched peers9 institutions · related subjectsSee the evidence

The degree in numbers

Cost & earnings.

Annual tuition$12,809Institution-level tuition; programme fees may differ · before aid
Grouped debt estimate$22,437Related subjects at 7 matched peer institutions · bachelor's
Annual credentials awarded3Average of available recent award years; not the earnings sample size.

Earnings context

One career stage.
A clearer comparison.

USD · Bachelor's · 2 years after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.

Selected degree estimate$36,130
Same subject · national$35,060
Agriculture & food systems · national$33,321

Behind the number

Your comparison group.

Medium evidence

Related subjects at 9 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $32,620–$39,927.

Historical earnings archive. College Scorecard legacy FOS archive (file dated 2022-01-19; cohorts vary). Do not interpret this as today's graduate salary. Further study and career changes are not modelled by this early-career figure.

Bachelor's outcomes · 2 years after completion
Institution & subjectReported earnings
California State Polytechnic University-HumboldtPlant Sciences$39,927
University of WyomingAgricultural Production Operations, Animal Sciences, Plant Sciences$38,289
California State University-StanislausAgriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences, Other$42,682
Western Kentucky UniversityAgriculture, General$32,620
West Texas A & M UniversityAgricultural Public Services, Agricultural and Domestic Animal Services, Agriculture, General, Animal Sciences, Plant Sciences$35,420
University of MaineAnimal Sciences, Food Science and Technology$26,715
North Dakota State University-Main CampusAgricultural Mechanization, Agricultural Production Operations, Animal Sciences$52,107
California State University-FresnoAnimal Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Plant Sciences$36,130
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend CollegeAnimal Sciences$28,598
How matching & uncertainty work

We first look for the same subject code (or exact subject name), qualification, country, currency, source release and earnings horizon. Peer institutions are matched using admissions selectivity, completion rates, undergraduate size and institution type, with a small preference for the same region. These are institutional proxies, not a ranking of programme quality.

If subject-matched peers are sparse, we try related subjects at closely matched universities, related degrees at this university, then an explicitly labelled national reference. We never multiply a salary by a university prestige score.

Peer and national estimates give each reporting institution one vote, after taking the median of its related programmes. Shared branch-campus outcomes count once. The middle-half range describes variation between reporting institutions. It is not an individual salary range or a statistical confidence interval.

Evidence labels describe match quality and coverage, not validated prediction accuracy. Admissions and size are undergraduate institutional measures, so graduate-degree comparisons are especially approximate.

Historical cohort outcomes are not promised salaries or a causal effect of attending this programme. College Scorecard earnings cover eligible federal-aid recipients, not every graduate or international student. Source definitions ↗