The Crop Science graduate degree certifies that the student has been trained in the basic and applied sciences which pertain to growing plants in the field for food, fiber, and industrial purposes. Therefore, students must obtain the requisite knowledge and skills of the basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biochemistry to enable them to master the principles taught in the core curriculum courses encompassing soils, crop production and ecology, plant breeding, pest management, micrometeorology, the application of appropriate statistical procedures to agronomic data, and written and verbal communication skills.
Crop science encompasses a broad arena of scientific problems.
Therefore, in addition to the basic skills required of all students, each student will have an individual area of specialization. Those specialization's have become known by such titles as agronomist, crop physiologist, plant breeder, etc., and each has its own subset of knowledge and skills, which must be obtained by the practitioners. In general, the Crop Science graduate faculty certifies the acquisition of the core knowledge and skills and the student's graduate committee certifies the competence in the area of specialization. Science is in an era characterized by an explosion of knowledge, and that is especially true of crop science. Therefore, an important aspect of training in crop science is that the student develop an inquiring mind.