Almost 4 in 10 salaried agricultural and food scientists work for Federal, State, or local governments. One out of 6 worked for the Federal Government in 2002, mostly in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another 1 in 6 worked for State governments at State agricultural colleges or agricultural research stations. Some worked for agricultural service companies; others worked for commercial research and development laboratories, seed companies, pharmaceutical companies, wholesale distributors, and food products companies. Over 1,600 agricultural scientists were self-employed in 2002, mainly as consultants.