As of June 2026, Agricultural Equipment Operators has an AI-exposure score of 47/100 (Moderate exposure) on the AI-Safe Careers index, blending O*NET tasks, the Anthropic Economic Index, the Penn/OpenAI study, and BLS data. This is an estimate of task exposure, not a prediction of job loss.
Agricultural Equipment Operators
More exposed than 26% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$41,730. About 10,500 projected openings a year (BLS 2024–34 — growth plus replacement).
Pay & demand figures are US medians (BLS, in USD) — your local figures will differ. Your exposure score applies broadly.
How you compare to similar Farming & Forestry roles
Your tasks, by AI exposure
No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as augmentable (65%).
- Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information.
- Load hoppers, containers, or conveyors to feed machines with products, using forklifts, transfer augers, suction gates, shovels, or pitchforks.
- Guide products on conveyors to regulate flow through machines, and to discard diseased or rotten products.
- Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.
- Drive trucks to haul crops, supplies, tools, or farm workers.
- Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops.
- Direct and monitor the activities of work crews engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities.
- Spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control insects, fungus and weed growth, and diseases, using hand sprayers.
- Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions.
- Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.
- Walk beside or ride on planting machines while inserting plants in planter mechanisms at specified intervals.
- Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps.
- Mix specified materials or chemicals, and dump solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.
- Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify supervisors when machinery malfunctions.
- Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools.
- Position boxes or attach bags at discharge ends of machinery to catch products, removing and closing full containers.
- Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.
Safer adjacent roles
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