Agriculture Pathway Guide

At a glance

This guide covers a high school agriculture pathway (agricultural science, animal and plant systems, and agricultural mechanics) in Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Hawaii. It sets out the rules that differ by state. The how-to for staffing, partnerships, approvals, facilities, curriculum and scheduling sits in six implementation toolkits, linked in the launch steps at the end.

What the pathway leads to

Agriculture has no general occupational license. Employers hire on skill, and students show it through industry credentials (animal science, plant science, livestock quality assurance, veterinary assistant, agricultural mechanics and welding) and through records of supervised agricultural experience (SAE). Two parts of the field are regulated: pesticide application, which requires state certification at 18 in nearly every case, and veterinary work, where assistants may work only under a veterinarian’s supervision. After high school, students go to work on farms and in agribusiness, to a college agriculture or veterinary technology program, or to a four-year agriculture degree.

The decisions you face

1. Which program focus. Each state offers agriculture under one or more state program codes. Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania also have separate veterinary or animal health programs. Michigan has no separate agricultural mechanics program code, so ag mechanics is taught inside the general agriculture program.
2. Who teaches it. Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania license agriculture teachers through degree-based agricultural education routes. Michigan, Arizona and Hawaii have CTE certificate routes that can bring in people from industry.
3. How SAE and job placements are set up. Every student in an agricultural education program completes an SAE. Paid work for a farm that is not the student’s family farm is employment, and the federal farm child labor rules apply to students under 16. Off-farm agribusiness jobs fall under the stricter nonagricultural rules, which run to age 18.
4. What students do with pesticides. Paid pesticide handlers and certified applicators must be 18 in almost every case. Students doing land lab or greenhouse work for course credit fall outside the federal handler rule, so your own safety rules govern there.
5. Which college credit route to build on. Statewide credit exists in Michigan (Michigan State University), North Carolina (community colleges) and Pennsylvania (SOAR, horticulture only). Elsewhere, agreements are local.

Where the states differ most

Items are labeled Confirmed, Confirm with the agency, or Changing. Last checked October 5, 2026.

Jobs and pay

Farm equipment mechanic jobs are projected to grow in all seven states, close to the national rate of 11.0%, though the numbers are small: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan and Missouri each expect 110 to 120 openings a year. Agricultural equipment operators are the largest of the three occupations and are projected to shrink in Arizona and Hawaii. Check regional demand with local farms, dealers and agribusinesses before you decide.

Farm equipment mechanic jobs are projected to grow in every state, most in Missouri

Projected change in farm equipment mechanic and service technician jobs (SOC 49-3041), 2024 to 2034

Show the numbers

State	Projected change, 2024 to 2034
Missouri	+13.3%
Arizona	+13.0%
North Carolina	+12.9%
Virginia	+10.9%
Michigan	+10.6%
Pennsylvania	+10.4%
Hawaii	+8.3%
United States	+11.0%

Farm equipment mechanics and service technicians (SOC 49-3041)

Agricultural equipment operators (SOC 45-2091)

Agricultural technicians (SOC 19-4012)

Wages are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics state file, May 2025. Jobs, openings and change are from state long-term projections, 2024 to 2034, via Projections Central; figures are rounded, and Hawaii’s farm equipment mechanic openings round to zero. The chart shows farm equipment mechanics because it is the only one of the three occupations with wage and projection data published for all seven states.

Credentials students can earn

Agriculture credentials are many and narrow: each covers one area such as livestock quality assurance, plant science, animal science, veterinary assisting or ag mechanics. Your state’s list decides which ones count for accountability and funding, so start there. Several credentials appear on more than one state’s list:

Pesticide applicator certification has an age floor of 18 in nearly every case (see Working with minors). A student can prepare for the exam in high school, but in Virginia the certificate is not issued until the student turns 18.

What each state counts

Working with minors

Farm work has its own federal child labor rules, separate from the rules for other jobs. For the general federal and state rules, a task-by-task decision path and a student-learner agreement template, see Working with Minors in CTE Pathways.

Federal rules

Which rules apply. Work on a farm, and growing crops or raising livestock for any employer, falls under the agricultural rules (29 CFR 570.70 to 570.72). Work for an agribusiness that is not a farm, such as a feed mill, grain elevator, equipment dealer or veterinary clinic, generally falls under the nonagricultural rules, where the hazardous occupations orders apply to everyone under 18 (including HO 7, which bars forklifts with no student-learner exemption). Confirm a specific employer’s status with the Wage and Hour Division. (Confirmed)

Ages. On a farm, students 16 and older may do any job, including the hazardous ones, with no federal hour limits. Students 14 and 15 may work outside school hours in any farm job that is not on the hazardous list. Students 12 and 13 may work outside school hours with written parental consent or on a farm where a parent also works. (Confirmed)

The family farm exemption. The federal farm rules do not apply to a child employed by a parent, or a person standing in place of a parent, on a farm that parent or person owns or operates. Home-farm SAE projects therefore fall outside the federal hazardous list. Your program still needs its own safety plan for them. (Confirmed)

The eleven hazardous orders for farm workers under 16 (29 CFR 570.71) and the exemptions that open them:

The vocational agriculture student-learner exemption (570.72(a)) covers orders 1 to 6 only. The student must be enrolled in a vocational agriculture program and work under a written agreement, signed by the employer and the school and kept by both, that provides:

1. The work is incidental to training, intermittent, for short periods, and under the direct and close supervision of a qualified and experienced person.
2. The school gives safety instruction, and the employer correlates it with on-the-job training.
3. A schedule of organized and progressive work processes has been prepared.

The Wage and Hour Division treats direct and close supervision as met when one experienced adult works with the first student-learner on site and at least three more experienced adults work alongside each additional student-learner. The ratio applies only while the student does work the orders would otherwise bar. (Confirmed)

Training certificates for 14- and 15-year-olds (570.72(b) and (c)) open orders 1 and 2 only:

1. Vocational agriculture: a 15-hour tractor operation program, plus a 10-hour machine operation program for machinery, each with written and practical tests. The vocational agriculture teacher signs the certificate.
2. 4-H: a 10-hour tractor program, the tractor program plus a 10-hour machine program, or a 4-hour orientation plus a 20-hour combined program, with written and practical tests. The leader who ran the program and an Extension agent both sign the certificate.

The employer keeps a copy of the certificate on file. (Confirmed)

Pesticide handling and applicator ages

The EPA Worker Protection Standard requires every pesticide handler and every early-entry worker to be at least 18 (40 CFR 170.309(c)). The owner’s immediate family is exempt when working on the owner’s own farm. Federal certification rules set 18 as the minimum age for commercial and private applicators of restricted-use pesticides. A noncertified person applying restricted-use pesticides under supervision must also be 18, except 16 when supervised by a private applicator who is an immediate family member (not for fumigants, certain poisons or aerial application). (Confirmed)

EPA’s WPS guidance says students doing worker or handler tasks as part of an academic program or for educational credit are not employed and are not workers or handlers under the WPS. A student doing land lab or greenhouse work for course credit is outside the age-18 handler rule, so your district’s safety rules govern. A student paid by the school farm or an outside employer is inside it. (Confirm with the agency: the guidance dates from 2016; ask EPA or your state lead agency whether it still applies.)

State rules

The practical effect: keep students under 16 off the eleven hazardous farm tasks unless a signed student-learner agreement or training certificate covers the task, and in Hawaii keep them off every task on the state list (HAR 12-25-57), even with a student-learner agreement or training certificate. Keep students under 18 off forklifts and other nonagricultural hazardous work at off-farm agribusiness sites. Keep paid students under 18 out of pesticide handling, except on their own family’s farm.

Licensing and outside approvals

No second agency approves an agriculture program in any of the seven states. Two outside agencies govern what students may do: the state agriculture department, which certifies pesticide applicators (ages are in the table under Working with minors), and the state veterinary board, whose practice act limits what a veterinary assistant may do at a clinic placement. No state veterinary board approves school programs, and no state among those checked sets a minimum age for veterinary assistants.

A veterinary clinic is not a farm, so a paid clinic placement falls under the nonagricultural child labor rules, which run to 18.

Who can teach

Agriculture teacher routes are mostly degree-based. Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania license agriculture teachers through agricultural education programs; Michigan, Arizona and Hawaii have CTE certificate routes. The agriculture teacher also runs the FFA chapter and supervises every student’s SAE, so plan for time outside the school day.

The Staffing toolkit covers recruiting, pay and alternatives when you cannot find a licensed agriculture teacher.

Instructor training worth funding

Tractor and machine certificates. Under the federal vocational agriculture exemption, the agriculture teacher runs the 15-hour tractor program and the 10-hour machine program and signs the certificates that let 14- and 15-year-olds operate tractors and listed machines on the job. Build the teacher’s time for these programs into the schedule.

Welding. If ag mechanics includes welding, AWS certifications support North Carolina’s Agriculture Mechanics II credential. The Welding Pathway Guide covers instructor options.

Curriculum training. Missouri’s course list includes CASE courses (Introduction to AFNR, Ag Power and Technology, Food Science and Safety, Natural Resources and Ecology). Confirm with CASE what teacher training each course requires.

Program, curriculum and lab

An agriculture program needs state CTE program approval like any other pathway. The Approvals toolkit lists each state’s process and deadlines.

Program codes by state

Where no separate program exists. Michigan has no agricultural mechanics program code. Teach ag mechanics as part of the Agriculture program (01.0000), and talk with the MDE Office of Career and Technical Education agriscience consultant before placing a teacher who holds only an ag mechanics endorsement. Hawaii names no ag mechanics program of study; confirm with HIDOE CTE how to offer it within an existing program.

FFA and supervised agricultural experience

Agricultural education runs on three linked parts: classroom and lab instruction, SAE, and FFA. FFA is the agriculture student organization in all seven states, and its degrees (Discovery, Greenhand, Chapter, State and American) depend on the student’s SAE records. (Confirm with the agency: National FFA Official Manual.)

SAE is the work-based learning model. Missouri spells out the requirements in its Program Planning Handbook, Chapter 8: (Confirmed)

1. Every student in a secondary agriculture program develops an SAE.
2. Every student completes a foundational SAE: career exploration, employability skills, financial management, workplace safety and agricultural literacy.
3. Immersion SAEs take one of seven forms: placement, internship, ownership, entrepreneurship, research, school-based enterprise or service learning.
4. Placement SAEs require a signed SAE agreement.
5. The teacher visits each student at least once a semester and once in summer, with a documented individual conference of at least 20 minutes.

Other states tie SAE and FFA into their courses: Arizona’s AgriScience program, Virginia’s Agricultural Production Technology course (FFA and high-quality work-based learning), and North Carolina’s agriculture courses. Michigan’s statewide college credit with Michigan State University requires the State FFA Degree.

How the child labor rules apply to SAE:

Missouri’s chapter does not address insurance or child labor law. Settle both in the placement agreement before the first day.

The lab

An agriculture program usually needs several spaces: a classroom lab, a greenhouse or land lab, animal facilities where you keep livestock, and an ag mechanics shop. If students weld, the shop needs the ventilation and fire protection in the Welding Pathway Guide. Students working in the land lab for credit are outside the WPS, but plan pesticide storage, labeling and protective equipment with your facilities and safety staff as if they were covered, and keep paid student workers out of handler tasks until 18.

Equipment funds rarely cover buildings. Michigan’s 61v grant shows $0 in the FY2026-27 budget, and its earlier rounds barred construction and ventilation updates. Arizona’s State Priority Grant leaves infrastructure costs to the recipient. Missouri’s Enhancement Grant reimburses 50% of facility modifications and renovations. Pennsylvania has a Supplemental Equipment Grant (items of $3,000 or more) and a CTE Competitive Equipment Grant (up to $85,000 in 2025-26). The Facilities toolkit has the full funding table.

Curriculum

CASE (Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education) supplies full course sequences, and Missouri lists four CASE courses by code. Whatever you choose, check that it covers your state program standards or course framework and the credentials on your state’s list. The Curriculum toolkit has a review rubric.

Credit after high school

Academic credit

Agriculture courses often carry science content (animal science, plant science, biotechnology, food science). Counting one toward a science graduation requirement is a local decision in most of these states, and it can affect admission:

1. Before you substitute an agriculture course for a required science course, check that your state’s public universities accept it as a laboratory science for admission. A course that counts toward the diploma may not count toward admission, and students aiming for a four-year college may need the standard science course as well.
2. Michigan: where no approved crosswalk links an agriculture program to the Michigan Merit Curriculum science credits, use the S4IS CTE Crosswalk prototype (Product A) as interim guidance, and confirm the substitution with your district’s credit policy.
3. Missouri: DESE’s graduation handbook names two local options: waive one academic unit after a three-unit program of study, or substitute an LEA-approved CTE course for one core unit. (Confirm with DESE how either option applies to agriculture.)

The Curriculum toolkit covers integrated academic credit in detail.

Launch steps

Work through these steps in order; several can run at the same time. The launch guide sets out the full sequence across pathways.

Review status and sources

Last checked October 5, 2026. An independent check on October 5, 2026 tested 12 claims against official sources and corrected 3. These items are open for reviewers:

1. Pennsylvania. Whether a 16- or 17-year-old can still get a private pesticide applicator permit under 7 Pa. Code 128.62, or whether the state plan now sets 18 (ask PDA). Whether the Child Labor Act exempts non-seasonal farm work (ask DLI). Certificate area code for agriculture teachers and the date of the credential list (ask PDE).
2. Hawaii. Whether the 2026 HAR 4-66 amendments setting age 18 for applicators are adopted (ask HDOA). Whether HRS chapter 390 exempts vocational agriculture, 4-H or family-farm work from HAR 12-25-57 (ask DLIR). Current program-of-study names and credentials (ask HIDOE CTE).
3. North Carolina. Rule text and effective date of 02 NCAC 09L .0512 and .1107 (ask NCDA&CS). Whether 13 NCAC 12 .0406 reaches farm work (ask NCDOL). The full agriculture course list, license area code and any residency route (ask NC DPI). Student conditions for articulated credit (ask NCCCS).
4. Virginia. Whether students under 18 may sit pesticide applicator exams (ask VDACS). Whether DOLI applies the 16VAC15-30 machine orders, such as power saws, to farm employees aged 16 and 17, and if so whether a work-training agreement filed with DOLI covers the task (ask DOLI). Farms are not on the 40.1-100(B) list, so the (B) work-training exception does not decide farm placements. Any statewide agriculture articulation (ask VCCS). Course codes other than 8010 (ask VDOE).
5. Michigan. The full credential list by agriculture program code and guidance on local agriculture courses (ask MDE OCTE). Which farm-work standards apply under MCL 409.119(1)(f) and whether farm jobs need a work permit (ask LEO Wage and Hour).
6. Missouri. Whether the 2016 course codes are current and whether the temporary career education certificate is used for agriculture teachers (ask DESE).
7. Federal. Whether EPA’s 2016 answer that students working for academic credit are not WPS workers or handlers still stands (ask EPA or the state lead agency). National FFA Official Manual on SAE and degree requirements (ask National FFA).
8. Veterinary assistants. Rules in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Hawaii; current text of Virginia’s 18VAC150-20-172; North Carolina’s rule number (ask each state veterinary board).

Sources

Jobs and pay

• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state file) and Projections Central

Working with minors and pesticides

• 29 CFR part 570, subpart E-1 (agriculture) and 29 CFR 570.72 (also read on Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/570.72, October 5, 2026)
• DOL Child Labor Bulletin 102
• 29 CFR part 780, subpart B
• 40 CFR 170.309, 170.601, 171.103, 171.105, 171.201
• EPA WPS frequently asked questions; EPA, Requirements under the Worker Protection Standard for owners of agricultural establishments (https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-worker-safety/requirements-under-worker-protection-standard-owners-agricultural)
• Michigan: MCL 409.103, MCL 409.118, MCL 409.119, R 408.6208, MCL 324.8314
• Virginia: Va. Code 40.1-79.01, 40.1-100, 40.1-100.1, 16VAC15-30, 2VAC5-685-20, VDACS registered technician packet
• North Carolina: G.S. 95-25.14, G.S. 95-25.5, NCDA&CS pesticide regulation summary of changes
• Arizona: A.R.S. 23-231, 23-232, 23-235, A.A.C. R3-3-208
• Pennsylvania: DLI Child Labor Law Prohibitions, 43 P.S. 1301.203, 7 Pa. Code 128.44, 7 Pa. Code 128.62
• Missouri: RSMo 294.011, 2 CSR 70-25
• Hawaii: HAR chapter 12-25, HAR 4-66-56, HDOA proposed administrative rules

Veterinary assistants

• Mich. Admin. Code R 338.4910
• Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine guidance on unlicensed assistants
• NCVMB Practice Act and Rules, November 2024
• A.R.S. 32-2201 and 32-2211

Programs and credentials

• MDE CIP Program Endorsements for CTE Instruction, CTEIS state-approved credentials, NOCTI Michigan
• CTE Resource Center, Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and Agricultural Production Technology
• NC DPI Career Clusters and Pathways, NCCTE CMS career pathways, CTE Course Inventory 2026-2027
• ADE CTE Programs, AgriScience, Veterinary Assisting, ADE Current Credential List
• PDE Teacher Resources, PDE IRCs for CTE Programs
• DESE Agricultural Education, Program Planning Handbook Chapter 4, Chapter 8 (SAE), AFNR IRC Pathway Sub-Cluster Alignment 2025
• HIDOE Career and Technical Education, Hawaii Career Pathways, Animal Systems

Instructors

• 8VAC20-23-220
• NC State LEAP
• ADE AgriScience program description and Veterinary Assisting program description
• Penn State agricultural and extension education, teaching certification

College credit

• MDE, Michigan State University agriculture agreement
• NCCCS High School to Community College CTE Articulation (edited March 2026)
• PDE Programs of Study (SOAR)