LinkedIn is buzzing with advice that agricultural graduates or the education ciricullam need to adapt to the agri-tech and startup ecosystem. True but slightly misplaced. Most of these students were never built for, nor placed in, that ecosystem.
Reality Check
B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture is a four-year professional course. Before a decade, it existed almost entirely in government institutes and sub-campuses, private colleges had limited management seats. Students were largely from agri backgrounds or focused on competitive exams like IAS, where the degree offered an edge.
Course content is diverse, but placements were narrow. The seed, fertilizer, and pesticide sectors dominate hiring and favored men for fieldwork and travel. Salaries are modest. Compared to startups or business, exams like UPSC, TNPSC, SSC, Bank SO and more, remain more attractive for stability and pay. Even now.
Digital marketing and the startup boom are changing awareness. Success in agri-business requires the 3 C‘s: confidence, clarity, and capital. Graduates usually have confidence and clarity or the subject expertise but lack exposure to fundraising platforms and problem-solving in business contexts. Agri incubators at sub-campuses and NABARD funding exist, but growth is slow relative to tech.
Two Very Different Paths
Path 1: Tech Entrepreneurs in Agriculture
Building technology products to solve agricultural problems, where entrepreneurship and tech are core. We have few to quite alot now.
Example: soil-testing apps with IoT sensors, AI-based crop disease detection, marketplaces connecting farmers to buyers, raising VC funding and scaling fast.
Skills needed: Coding, product management, pitch decks, microeconomics, growth hacking.
The gap: Agri students haven’t learned coding, SaaS, or fundraising. it’s essentially a career change.
Path 2: Agriculture Experts Leveraging Technology
Deep domain knowledge is core, technology is a tool.
Example: improved farming practices using WhatsApp or simple apps, contract farming networks, value-added agri-products with tech-enabled logistics, and more.
Skills needed: Domain expertise, supply chain, farmer relationships, quality control, and growth.
The gap: Much smaller. Students have expertise; they need exposure to business fundamentals, basic digital tools, and access to working capital.
Why confusion happens?
Path 1 is popularised because it’s visible across all platforms, fits the disruption narrative, and scales theoretically faster. Tech entrepreneurs dominate the market. But most real agricultural impact will come from Path 2: biology, soil, and seasons can’t be hacked. Farmer trust comes from demonstrated expertise. Sustainable margins come from operational excellence, not just platform effects.
Path 2 needs incubators aligned with agricultural cycles (experimentation takes 6–12 months, not weeks), working capital for 3–5 years, mentorship, negotiations, partnerships, and market analysis
Agriculture itself is still largely untapped. Early adopters are entering, with rising focus on health and quality food. Once demand for quality food scales (maybe organic or natural), the sector will explode but unlike tech, it demands multiple stakeholders experts, farmers, labor & land, private tech, policymakers and markets.
The foundation is already there. With more experiential learning and exposure to business models, graduates can bridge traditional education and the emerging agri-economy if the system catches up. Most advice-givers don’t distinguish between the two. They often equate ‘agri-tech’ with tech entrepreneurship, while agriculture also greatly benefits from domain experts who apply technology thoughtfully rather than aiming solely to become startup founders.
Cheers!
Check out the previous post in Agriculture & latest post (The Stage Beyond Independence)
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