Drive and control farm equipment to till soil and to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops. May perform tasks, such as crop baling or hay bucking. May operate stationary equipment to perform post-harvest tasks, such as husking, shelling, threshing, and ginning.
U.S. Workers
30,940
Median Salary
$42,580
10-Year Growth
+7.7%
Annual Openings
10,500
Typical entry: No formal educational credential
17 of 17 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions.
AI: Fully automatable - AI systems using audio, vibration, and visual sensors with anomaly-detection models can reliably observe and listen for machinery malfunctions and flag them in real time.
Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can directly manipulate electronic controls or drive actuators to set, activate, and adjust machinery mechanisms where interfaces are programmatically accessible.
Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information.
AI: Fully automatable - Weighing containers and recording IDs is straightforward to fully automate with scales, barcode/RFID and integrated data-logging systems.
Guide products on conveyors to regulate flow through machines, and to discard diseased or rotten products.
AI: Fully automatable - Machine-vision sorting and automated diverters can reliably regulate conveyor flow and discard diseased or rotten products in many processing lines.
Position boxes or attach bags at discharge ends of machinery to catch products, removing and closing full containers.
AI: Fully automatable - End-of-line packaging robotics and automated bagging/box-positioning systems can position containers, catch output, and remove/close full packages reliably in production settings.
Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify supervisors when machinery malfunctions.
AI: Partial - AI can diagnose faults and trigger notifications or provide repair guidance, but cannot reliably perform complex physical adjustments and repairs across varied machinery without human technicians or specialized robots.
Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps.
AI: Partial - AI can fully control pumps, valves, and automated irrigation scheduling, but cannot perform the manual physical maintenance of portable pipes, ditches, and pumps in many field situations.
Mix specified materials or chemicals, and dump solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.
AI: Partial - AI can control automated mixers and dispensing systems to measure and load materials, but ad-hoc manual mixing and loading into field equipment often requires human action.
Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.
AI: Partial - Autonomous tractors and combines can perform many operational tasks under AI control, but human oversight is still needed for complex, unstructured, or safety-critical situations.
Direct and monitor the activities of work crews engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities.
AI: Partial - AI can monitor crews, optimize assignments, and provide guidance, but cannot fully replace human supervisors for interpersonal management, safety judgments, and complex on-the-ground decisions.
Load hoppers, containers, or conveyors to feed machines with products, using forklifts, transfer augers, suction gates, shovels, or pitchforks.
AI: Partial - AI can automate loading using forklifts, augers, and conveyors, but many loading tasks involving shovels or pitchforks and irregular materials still require human labor.
Spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control insects, fungus and weed growth, and diseases, using hand sprayers.
AI: Partial - AI can plan and operate autonomous sprayers and drones for many applications, yet hand-spraying tasks, regulatory constraints, and nuanced on-the-ground decisions prevent full automation in all contexts.
Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools.
AI: Partial - AI and mechanized hitching systems can assist with alignment and hydraulic hookups, but manual bolting and the fine manipulations with hand tools remain largely human tasks.
Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops.
AI: Partial - Autonomous tractors and implement-control systems can perform planting, fertilizing, and spraying in many conditions, but setup, hitching, complex terrain, obstacle handling and edge cases still require human oversight.
Drive trucks to haul crops, supplies, tools, or farm workers.
AI: Partial - Long-haul and on-road autonomous trucking technology can handle many hauling tasks, but farm-specific operations, mixed loads, off-road access, and regulatory/safety concerns for transporting workers limit full automation.
Walk beside or ride on planting machines while inserting plants in planter mechanisms at specified intervals.
AI: Partial - Specialized transplanters and robotic systems can insert seedlings in controlled environments, yet many field contexts and variable plant handling still depend on human dexterity and adaptability.
Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.
AI: Partial - Conveyors, AGVs and automated forklifts can load and unload in structured settings, but irregular, delicate crop handling and unstructured farm environments often require human intervention.