The Environmental and Agricultural Systems Career Cluster offers educational and training opportunities related to agriculture, the environment and natural resources. It includes agricultural science, earth sciences, environmental sciences as well as service, research, education and production.
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources is a diverse career cluster that prepares learners for careers in the planning, implementation, production, management, processing, and/or marketing of agriculture commodities and services including food, fiber, wood products, natural resources, horticulture, and other plant and animal products.
Careers include those in agriculture, earth sciences, environmental studies, fisheries management, animal care, forestry, lawn care, plant care, floral work, horticulture, and wildlife management. Workers within these career fields manage, develop, protect and improve natural habitats for wildlife; improve strategies of raising crops or animals; identify and analyze sources of pollution; study tornadoes, volcanoes, and other natural phenomena; and design environmentally friendly living space for humans and wildlife. There are thousands of challenging educational and training opportunities within the high-skilled world of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
Learners need a solid background in math, science, communications and technical skills.
This cluster is broken into seven pathways.
Students who want to pursue careers in this cluster should investigate the following Cincinnati Public Schools:
Housed at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Avondale, the Zoo Academy offers a unique program where students work directly with zookeepers to care for animals.
This program allows students to earn both college preparatory and career/technical credits. The Zoo Academy encourages students' interests in college and careers in animal-care conservation or environmental studies, as well as the study of plant systems.
Students spend two hours each school day working with zookeepers and horticulture staff maintaining the zoo's animals and plants. Work includes preparing meals, cleaning stalls and observing behavior, and planting of flower beds. The focus is life science, with students taking two years of botany and zoology, plus physics, anatomy and physiology.