Agriculture and Natural Resources
Description OES Code:00001
The agricultural services industry is composed of several diverse segments that provide services to an equally diverse clientele. Groups using services from the industry range from agricultural producers seeking stronger financial returns to their farmland through skilled farm management, to individual urban dwellers needing veterinary care for their pets, and urban and suburban property owners wishing to boost "curb appeal" of their establishments through professional landscaping. Many of the jobs in this industry require agricultural knowledge or skills, but only about 28 percent of wage and salary employment is directly related to the production of crops or the raising of livestock.

Categories Within This Industry
Landscape and horticultural services. Firms in this segment employ almost half of the wage and salary workers in the industry. These firms provide landscape planning and installation, landscape architecture, lawn care, and landscape and grounds maintenance services. Customers range from individual homeowners to large corporations, institutions, and Federal, State, and local governments. This segment is further subdivided into landscape architecture and landscaping, lawn maintenance, and groundskeeping firms.

Landscape architecture firms plan and design the development of land for projects, such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, and commercial and residential buildings. They prepare site plans showing landscape features, locations of structures, and roads, walks, and parking areas, as well as specifications and cost estimates for land development. Landscape contracting firms actually carry out the plans designed by landscape architecture establishments. They develop a budget for the project in consultation with the client, hire the workers and subcontractors, provide any equipment needed, and obtain the plants to install.

Animal services, except veterinary. This is the smallest segment of the agricultural services industry, accounting for only about 5 percent of wage and salary employment. It is divided into those establishments providing livestock services and those providing services for pets, horses, and other animal specialties. Nonfarm animal services include animal shelters, boarding dog kennels and horse stables, dog grooming, and animal training. Livestock services include firms that assist in breeding and artificial insemination, do sheep dipping and shearing, and provide herd improvement advice. Breeding services usually monitor herd condition and nutrition, evaluate the quality and quantity of forage, recommend adjustments to feeding when necessary, identify the best cattle or other livestock for breeding and calving, advise on livestock pedigrees, inseminate cattle artificially, and feed and care for sires.

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Categories Within This Industry (Cont'd)
Landscaping, lawn maintenance, and groundskeeping firms establish and maintain grounds, lawns, and gardens for homeowners as well as for governments, colleges and universities, real estate and land developers, and other private businesses. These firms are responsible for designing, planting, mulching, watering, fertilizing, mowing, and seeding lawns and grounds; applying pesticides; installing turf and sod; and pruning plants and trees for both new and existing landscapes. They also clear outdoor areas of debris and leaves, remove snow, and maintain all outdoor amenities and decorative features such as pools and other athletic facilities, fountains, benches, and planters. These firms also help maintain and repair roads, walkways, parking lots, and storm drainage systems.

Companies that provide soil preparation and crop services plant, cultivate, and harvest crops by machine and employ only about 1 in 9 wage and salary agricultural services workers. Because some types of farm machinery are highly specialized and very expensive, farms that do not want to invest in machinery often contract with these specialized firms to perform planting, harvesting, or other tasks. For example, farmers or farm managers might contract with crop services firms to do aerial dusting and spraying of pesticides over a large number of acres. Establishments in crop services also perform tasks to prepare crops for market, including shelling, fumigating, cleaning, grading, grinding, and packaging agricultural products.