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Horticulture Food Crop Production and Management

This field is ripe for the picking.

There are foodies. Then there are Horticulture Food Crop specialists. A career in food crop production is for those with an appetite to cultivate food crops, specifically fruits, and vegetables.

Dream. Draw. Plan. Plant.

If you’re interested in being a landscape designer, account manager, operations manager, or a member of installation or grounds maintenance crew, you’ll want to plant yourself here.

Laying the groundwork for future champions.

Are you interested in grooming putting greens and fairways that are on par with the best courses? Or maybe your field of interest is creating world-class baseball fields. If so, our turf is for you.

Plant yourself in the public eye.

Keeping the world we live in looking beautiful is no easy task. Students who choose the Public Horticulture option shovel straight into this challenge, finding careers in grounds management, education, and directing public gardens

You say potato. We say Solanum Tuberosum.

Not all aspects of horticulture require getting your hands dirty. If you’re more into lab coats, microscopes and molecular-level plant development, Horticulture Research is for you.

Rooted in science. Grown in glass.

From flowering crops to perennial bedding plants, greenhouses are used to grow just about any plant you can imagine. Fruits and vegetables headed for the field are first propagated and grown in greenhouses. Even trees bound for forests and parks start here!

Academic Options

Horticulture Food Crop Production and Management

Landscape Design, Installation, and Management

Turfgrass Management

Public Horticulture

Horticulture Research

Greenhouse Plant Production

Grow your own adventure.

Whether you are figuring out new ways to feed the world or feeding your desire to make the world more beautiful, Iowa State’s Department of Horticulture is an inclusive and exciting place to cultivate your talents. This is the place to get your hands dirty in becoming a grower, gardener, designer, and technical advisor in lucrative horticulture careers.

“Horticulture influences our everyday lives. Whether it be the grass we walk on, the apple we eat, or the flowers in the gardens around us and so much more.”

Horticulture. A career you’ll grow to love.

Horticulture is the beautiful intersection between art and science, where your passion for planting and growing help bring food, materials, comfort, and beauty to our world. From maintaining the turf at the Masters Tournament or NFL’s big game, to designing breathtaking landscapes for homeowners or businesses, we have everything you need to develop your skills as a horticulturist.

Iowa State’s Horticulture department is one of the oldest and most respected in the world. You’ll learn from industry-leading professors and have access to the latest technologies in landscaping, turfgrass management, and every food and non-food crop under the sun… and rain. Off campus you’ll stay busy working at greenhouses, farms and vineyards, golf courses, sports fields, and landscape construction and management firms.

Our graduates have no problem finding work. With a consistent 98% job placement within six months of graduation, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying a great career as: