U.S. World News and Report ranked the University of Illinois at Urbana as the top school for an undergraduate degree in agriculture. The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences offers 10 undergraduate majors with 39 concentrations ranging from agri-finance and farm management to bioenvironmental engineering and crop sciences. Graduate degrees also are offered. The college operates field research centers located throughout the state and, according to its website, "... plays a key role in national and international research initiatives in biological, physical, social, and economic sciences."
University of Illinois
919 West Illinois St.
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-0824
The Purdue University is U.S. World News and Report's second top pick for agricultural graduate programs. Purdue's programs have received many awards in the last few years, including the Carl F. Hertz Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award for its economics program and the National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award for its agricultural and biological engineering program. Purdue stays on the cutting edge of agricultural research with its science facilities and continues to prepare its alumni to be leaders of agriculture, according to its website.
Purdue University
504 Northwestern Ave.
West Layfayette, IN 47907
765-494-4600
Iowa State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences hosts the nation's largest Ag Career Day annually–in 2009, 150 employers and 1,4000 students participated. U.S. News and World Report ranked Iowa State has the nation's third best undergraduate program in agricultural and biological engineering. Majors range from agriculture and life sciences exploration to global resource systems. The college's website says "Iowa State is the first university in the nation to offer an undergraduate program that allows students to tailor their college career to become an expert in a technical field and a specific region of the world."
Iowa State University
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
138 Curtiss Hall
Ames, IA 50011
515-294-2518
Texas A&M University was founded in 1876 as Texas' first public institution of higher learning. The university, home to almost 40,000 undergraduates and more than 9,000 graduate students, is ranked fourth by U.S. News and World Report in undergraduate agricultural programs. Its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has departments in agricultural economics, horticultural sciences and plant pathology and microbiology, among others. The college offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees and has a faculty of over 400 members. According to it's website, those faculty members include a Nobel laureate and a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Texas A&M University
501 Industrial Blvd.
College Station, TX 77843
979-845-5851