Skill Hacks

Parcoursup: 10 courses to help you find your way to sustainable agriculture

Are you a future student in French higher education who wants to study agriculture or sustainable food? Since December 20, 2022, the Pacoursup platform, which offers more than 21,000 state-recognized training programs, has been open to collect and manage your assignment wishes. Among all the courses available, here are 10 courses to help you find a job in the sustainable agriculture sector!

⚠️ Parcoursup registration

For all the following courses, you will have to register on Parcoursup before applying on the website of the courses you have chosen.

Here is the Parcoursup calendar for 2023: 

  • register and add your wishes - from January 18 to March 9 inclusive
  • complete your file and confirm your wishes - from March 9 to April 6 inclusive.

The admission phase will then take place - from June 1st to July 13th.

The challenges of the agriculture and food sector

At the crossroads of issues related to health, the environment, the economy, land use planning, climate, energy and food security, the agriculture and food sector, with 1,430,000 jobs, plays a major role in our economic system. Representing ¼ of greenhouse gas emissions, today the sector represents a part of the environmental problem and also a big part of the solution.

These solutions are highlighted in the Plan for the Transformation of the French Economy, written by the Shift Project: support for the installation of new farmers, agro-ecology, development of a biofuel industry, supply chains in short circuit, reduction of food waste and packaging etc..

This is all well and good, but how can we take action? What are the existing channels to meet these challenges and change agricultural practices? How to orientate oneself in these sectors?

10 training courses to move towards sustainable agriculture

In Ile de France

The Bts agricole - Gestion et protection de la nature de LEA CFI

LEA-CFI provides its students with a campus of 120 hectares of natural space (diversified, wet and wooded areas), allowing them to learn the latest techniques of the profession.

  • Duration : 2 years
  • Work-study program
  • Where: Jouy en Josas
  • Prerequisites: general or technological baccalaureate, STAV and STL technological series, professional baccalaureate in natural environment and wildlife management, landscape or forest management, D.A.E.U option B, Agricultural Technician's certificate.
  • Annual fee : 1855€.
  • Available places: 21
  • Job opportunities: natural area technicians, environmental advisors, eco-educators, territorial agents, naturalist study managers, ecological engineering project managers, etc.
  • To continue your studies: AGEPUR license, preparatory class for engineering schools, agronomic or veterinary schools, professional licenses, CDEE bachelor, outdoor space designer.

The Bts Agricole - Aménagements paysagers

  • Duration: 2 years
  • Where? Paris - 12th district
  • Prerequisite: a high school diploma. The most suitable courses are the general or technological baccalaureate STAV or the professional baccalaureate in landscaping.
  • Annual fee: 40€.
  • Available places: 28
  • Job opportunities: specialized worker in a private company or in the green spaces department of a city or a county council. Possibility of becoming a team leader or site manager very quickly if you are competent and motivated. 
  • To continue your studies: - certificate of specialization in apprenticeship: pruning and care of trees, landscape construction, automatic watering, interior landscaping, etc. - or professional license in apprenticeship: design, maintenance and management of building sites, commercial manager in landscape agribusiness, in management of natural environments, etc.

In Normandy

Agro, Food & Environmental Engineering / Agroalimentaire & Transformations - UniLaSalle

The first engineering program in the field of agronomy, agri-food and sustainable development in France, entirely in English.

  • Duration: 5 years
  • curriculum 100% in English
  • Where? Rouen
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate with math option, STAV, STI2D, STL technological baccalaureate
  • Annual fee: 7850€. Special arrangements for scholarship students.
  • Available places: 10 places
  • Careers: agriculture, water, agri-food, services, agri-supply, production, non-food processing, land use planning, energy and new energies, distribution, biotechnologies, etc. / Functions: marketing, sales, communication, quality, consulting, management control, international trade, management, studies, finance, law, research and development, purchasing, production, logistics.

In Britanny

Formation ingénieur agroalimentaire - Institut Agro Rennes-Angers 

To transform production and consumption models, to contribute to the transitions that the climate emergency and the loss of biodiversity call for and to cover the food needs of a growing population.

  • Duration: 5 years
  • Where? Rennes
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate with scientific specialties, technological baccalaureate STI2D, STAV or STL.
  • Annual fee: 1786€. No fees for students with scholarships.
  • Available places: 45 places
  • Careers: all fields: from production to marketing, including research and development and marketing, in agri-food or biotechnology companies, but also in other sectors where their modeling and optimization skills are in demand (consulting, auditing, IT, nutrition, statistics, cosmetics, communication, etc.).

In Pays de la Loire

Formation ingénieur horticulture - paysage - Institut Agro Rennes-Angers 

For high school students who enjoy biology, physics and mathematics and who are interested in plants and the benefits they offer. This pathway offers the opportunity to contribute to the transitions that the climate emergency and the loss of biodiversity call for. 

  • Duration: 5 years 
  • Where? Angers
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate with scientific specialties, technological baccalaureate STI2D, STAV or STL.
  • Annual fee: 1786€. No fee for students with scholarships.
  • Available places: 47 places
  • Job opportunities: very diverse activities in all sectors, private, public or parapublic, concerned with landscape and its changes, revealing the major issues of society: the animation of public policies, project management consulting, design of landscape projects and management of construction sites.

In Hauts-de-France

BTS Agricole - Agronomie et cultures durables

To learn the fundamentals of agronomy and plant science. The establishment allows students to work on a regional reference farm, specialized in field crops, which allows them to carry out life-size crop monitoring.

  • Duration: 2 years 
  • Where? Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate, STAV technological baccalaureate or agricultural vocational baccalaureate.
  • Annual fee: public institution - no fees
  • Available places: 24 places
  • Careers: senior technician in agronomy, sustainable crops (farm operator - advisor to agricultural stakeholders - technician in environmental experimentation and diagnosis, silo manager, supply manager.
  • To continue your studies: professional licenses in organic agriculture, agronomy, development of agro-resources, engineering schools, licenses, masters, specialization certificates.

Bachelor en Sciences et en Ingénierie Agriculture, Numérique et Technologies

Embarquées - UniLaSalle

To contribute to the development of new equipment, decision support tools or applications for farmers. 

  • Duration: 3 years
  • Where? Beauvais
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate with scientific specialties, technological baccalaureate STI2D, STAV or STL.
  • Annual fee: 7000€ the first year, apprenticeship the 2nd and 3rd year
  • Available places: 30 places
  • Job opportunities: the job opportunities are mainly in the agro-equipment sector, in which many positions are available in the distribution and sale of agricultural equipment, maintenance and installation of agricultural equipment, technical interventions on farms, training in new technologies in industry and distribution, etc.
  • To continue your studies: an engineering course or university.

In Rhône-Alpes

BTS Agricole - Analyse, conduite et stratégie de l’entreprise agricole

To train in the management and operation of a farm business, taking into account economic, social, environmental and agro-ecological issues.

  • Duration: 2 years 
  • Where is it offered? La Côte-Saint-André
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate, STAV technological baccalaureate or agricultural vocational baccalaureate.
  • Annual fee: public institution - no fee
  • Available places: 16 places
  • Careers: business advisor, technical advisor, management advisor, farmer, inseminator, technical sales representative
  • To continue your studies: engineering school by apprenticeship, after a competitive examination, for training in agriculture or agri-food, veterinary school after a competitive examination, professional license, level II diploma, certificate of specialization, allowing you to deepen your knowledge of a specialty, post-BTS preparatory class giving access to the C competitive examination of agricultural engineering schools and veterinary schools.

In Occitanie

BTS Agricole - Analyses biologiques, biotechnologiques, agricoles et environnementales

To learn how to prepare and implement all the essential analyses in biology, biochemistry, microbiology and chemistry as well as to carry out biotechnological processes. 

  • Duration: 2 years 
  • Where? Montpellier
  • Prerequisites: a general, technological or professional baccalaureate
  • Annual fee: public institution - no fees
  • Available places: 24 places
  • Career opportunities: possibility of working in the fields of the environment, human and animal health, the agri-food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, cosmetology and biotechnology.
  • To continue your studies: professional licenses, then professional Masters at the University Institutes, competitive examination C allowing access to the Agronomy and Veterinary schools.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

BUT Génie biologique - Parcours Agronomie 

To acquire skills in agronomy, oriented around sustainable agriculture, agro-ecology, respectful of Man and the environment, with many local specificities (pastoralism, perfume plants, arboriculture, organic market gardening, livestock...)

  • Duration : 3 years
  • Where ? Digne-les-Bains
  • Prerequisites: general baccalaureate, STL, STAV or equivalent
  • Annual fee: 170€, no fee for scholarship students
  • Available places: 56 places
  • Careers: senior technicians in agronomy (consulting, production, quality, etc.)
  • To continue your studies: professional masters (many specialties around agronomy), take the competitive exams at the end of the 2nd year or end of the 3rd year for the national agricultural engineering schools (C2 competitive exam, apprenticeship competitive exam, specific competitive exam) and for certain specialties of Polytech, apply to private agricultural engineering schools on the basis of a portfolio, take the specific competitive exams for entry to veterinary schools at the end of the BAU (exams for which the terms and conditions are not yet known)

For further

👉Tomorrow's agriculture, which transitions ? 

👉I don't know what job to do

👉10 tips to find you way in positive impact

Take action

👉 Find a purpose-driven job

👉 Training in the professions of ecological and social transition