Agricultural Research Service

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the Department of Agriculture’s principal in-house research agency, running laboratories and research centers across the country that study crops, livestock, food safety, nutrition, natural resources and the pests and diseases that threaten them. It also operates the National Agricultural Library, one of the national libraries of the United States.

Recent listings have included research scientists such as a research plant pathologist, a research entomologist, a geneticist and an interdisciplinary research nutritionist, physiologist or biologist, an entomologist, agricultural science research technicians in plants and animals, biological science laboratory technicians, trades positions including an electrical worker and a utility systems repairer operator, a supervisory security specialist, an associate deputy administrator and a director of the National Agricultural Library.

Applying tip: ARS research scientist positions are graded on the strength of the candidate’s research record rather than on supervisory scope, so the application should foreground publications, grants and the problems your work has solved. Technician announcements are the more accessible entry point and are judged on laboratory or field experience in the discipline named. Our federal resume guide explains how to present scientific work in the federal format.