Definition: The Agricultural Corps, or AgriCorps, was a branch of the Jedi Order that focused on helping people through cultivating crops. It first appears in Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force by Dave Wolverton (1999): because Obi-Wan Kenobi was not initially chosen as a Padawan, he was sent off to join the AgriCorps until Qui-Gon Jinn took him on as an apprentice.
In-universe: Not everyone with an affinity for the Force has a talent for fighting. Over time, the Jedi Order developed a Service Corps where Jedi could use their different gifts. The four arms of the Service Corps are the Agricultural Corps (the largest branch), the Medical Corps, the Education Corps, and the Exploration Corps.
The main responsibility of Jedi in the Agricultural Corps was to tend farms to feed citizens in the Core Worlds. They used their knowledge of the Force to nurture plant life and to fight against drought, disease, and other agricultural problems. The Agricultural Corps also researched environmental and geological factors on different planets to figure out what crops would best serve their populations.
The Agricultural Corps was frequently seen as a dumping ground for failed Jedi; the Reassignment Council did assign Jedi to the AgriCorps if they were not chosen as Padawans or did not pass their trials. They should serve as a reminder, however, that Jedi do not have to be part of a military order to study the Force or aid the people of the galaxy.
After Order 66 and the destruction of the Jedi Order, the remaining Agricultural Corps workers were taken to Byss and trained in the dark side of the Force. When Luke Skywalker founded the New Jedi Order, he adopted several tenets of the AgriCorps -- such as the importance of patience -- but did not have enough students to maintain a full-time Agricultural Corps.
Read More
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force by Daniel Wallace (2010)
- The Clone Wars Campaign Guide (2009)