How to become a Soil and Plant Scientist 2024

Soil and Plant Scientist Conduct research in breeding, physiology, production, yield, and management of crops and agricultural plants or trees, shrubs, and nursery stock, their growth in soils, and control of pests; or study the chemical, physical, biological, and mineralogical composition of soils as they relate to plant or crop growth. May classify and map soils and investigate effects of alternative practices on soil and crop productivity.

Soil and Plant Scientist is Also Know as

In different settings, Soil and Plant Scientist is titled as

Agronomist
Arboriculture Researcher
Crop Nutrition Scientist
Forage Physiologist
Horticulture Specialist
Plant Physiologist
Plant Research Geneticist
Research Scientist
Research Soil Scientist
Scientist

Education and Training of Soil and Plant Scientist

Soil and Plant Scientist is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Soil and Plant Scientist

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Education Required for Soil and Plant Scientist

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Degrees Related to Soil and Plant Scientist

Training Required for Soil and Plant Scientist

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Soil and Plant Scientist in different industries are

What Do Soil and Plant Scientist do?

Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops.
Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion.
Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity.
Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.
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.
Investigate soil problems or poor water quality to determine sources and effects.
Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties.
Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology.
Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.
Identify degraded or contaminated soils and develop plans to improve their chemical, biological, or physical characteristics.
Survey undisturbed or disturbed lands for classification, inventory, mapping, environmental impact assessments, environmental protection planning, conservation planning, or reclamation planning.
Perform chemical analyses of the microorganism content of soils to determine microbial reactions or chemical mineralogical relationships to plant growth.
Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation.
Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests.
Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products.
Consult with engineers or other technical personnel working on construction projects about the effects of soil problems and possible solutions to these problems.
Develop ways of altering soils to suit different types of plants.
Study insect distribution or habitat and recommend methods to prevent importation or spread of injurious species.
Identify or classify species of insects or allied forms, such as mites or spiders.
Conduct experiments regarding causes of bee diseases or factors affecting yields of nectar or pollen.
Conduct research into the use of plant species as green fuels or in the production of green fuels.
Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests.
Research technical requirements or environmental impacts of urban green spaces, such as green roof installations.
Study ways to improve agricultural sustainability, such as the use of new methods of composting.
Plan or supervise waste management programs for composting or farming.
Plan or supervise land conservation or reclamation programs for industrial development projects.
Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment.

Qualities of Good Soil and Plant Scientist

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Soil and Plant Scientist

Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
Autosamplers
Calibrated soil scoops
Canopy analyzers
Cell tissue culture incubators
Circulating water baths
Colorimeters
Conductivity meters
Dataloggers
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Digital pH meters
Electron microscopes
Epifluorescence microscopes
Erlenmeyer flasks
Flame photometers
Fluorimeters
Gamma ray spectrometers
Gel documentation systems
Gel dryers
Gel electrophoresis systems
Glass beakers
Glass flasks
Global positioning system GPS receivers
Graduated glass cylinders
Ground penetrating radar GPR
Hand augers
Heat flux plates
High speed centrifuges
Hot water shaking baths
Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometers ICP-AES
Infrared cameras
Infrared gas analyzers
Ion chromatographs
Laboratory drying ovens
Laboratory grinders
Laboratory growth chambers
Laboratory mixers
Laboratory muffle furnaces
Laboratory sieves
Laboratory test tubes
Laminar flow hoods
Laptop computers
Laser particle sizers
Light detection and ranging LIDAR systems
Luminometers
Lysimeters
Mass spectrometers
Microtiter plate readers
Organic carbon analyzers
Osmometers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistants PDA
pH indicators
Polarizing microscopes
Polymerase chain reaction PCR equipment
Porometers
Precision balances
Psychrometers
Reciprocating shaker water baths
Refrigerated microfuges
Sample containers
Soil analysis hydrometers
Soil augers
Soil moisture neutron probes
Soil thermometers
Spectrophotometers
Synthetic aperture radar SAR
Tensiometers
Thermocouples
X ray fluorescence XRF spectrometers

Technology Skills required for Soil and Plant Scientist

3dMapper
Autodesk AutoCAD
Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator EPIC
ESRI ArcGIS software
European Soil Erosion Model EUROSEM
GAEA Technologies WinSieve
GEOEAS
Geographic information system GIS software
Geographic information system GIS systems
GSLIB
Gstat
IBM SPSS Statistics
LandSerf
Leica Geosystems ERDAS IMAGINE
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
National Resources Conservation Service NRCS PEDON Description Program PDP
National Resources Conservation Service NRCS Soils Explorer
National Soil Information System NASIS
PC-Progress HYDRUS
PedonCE
R
SAS
SGeMS
Soil information databases
SoilVision Systems SVOFFICE
SPAW
STATISTICA
UNSATFLOW
Variogram Estimation and Spatial Prediction plus Error Vesper
Water Erosion Prediction Project WEPP
Word processing software

US Universities

How to become Soil and Plant Scientist in 2024