Agriculture and Forestry Pathway
Careers in Agriculture
Ready to turn your passion for agriculture into a rewarding career? The Tennessee BIS Pathway in Agriculture offers multiple concentrations all designed to get you from a community college to a four-year university without losing a single credit. Start at any of nine participating Tennessee colleges earning valuable non-credit credentials, and transfer seamlessly to a public university where your credits are guaranteed to count toward your bachelor’s degree. With median salaries ranging from $60,330 to $66,360 per year in Tennessee, the Agriculture Pathway is your cost-effective route to a career in one of the state’s most vital industries. Visit https://ler.me/program-pathways/agriculture-and-forestry to explore the curriculum and connect with an advisor today.
Explore the Careers Waiting for You
Turn outdoor spaces into something people notice. As a landscaper or groundskeeper, you'll build and maintain the lawns, gardens, and green spaces that shape how communities look and feel — with hands-on work, steady demand, and room to grow into supervisory or business ownership roles.
Help feed the future through science. As an agriculture technician, you'll work alongside researchers to improve crops, strengthen livestock, and solve real problems in food production — running experiments, collecting data, and making discoveries that reach far beyond the lab.
Run the operation, grow the business. As a farm, ranch, or agricultural manager, you'll lead every side of a working operation — from planting and harvest decisions to hiring crews and managing finances — building something productive on the land with real independence and leadership.
Protect the land that sustains us all. As a forest and conservation technician, you'll work in the field safeguarding forests, waterways, and wildlife habitats — collecting critical data, preventing wildfires, and helping ensure natural resources are here for generations to come.
Put your love of animals to work in a real medical career. As a veterinary technologist or technician, you'll run lab tests, assist in surgeries, prepare vaccines, and play a hands-on role in diagnosing and treating animals — with strong demand across clinics, hospitals, and research facilities.
A New Way to Grow
Skills move faster than ever, and your credentials should too. Micro-credentials, also called non-degree, non-credit, or non-traditional credentials, have become one of the most valuable tools in today's rapidly changing workplace. These focused, standalone credentials prove what you can do right now, letting you build expertise, signal new skills to employers, and advance your career without stepping away from it.
What sets The University of Tennessee's Bachelor's Degree in Integrated or Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) approach apart is the pathway. Micro-credentials can be mapped directly to community college courses and, through the BIS pathways, all the way to a bachelor's degree. Start with a single credential, stack it into a certificate, roll that into an associate degree, and continue on to a four-year degree if and when you choose. Your education scales at the same pace as your career.