# Agricultural Equipment Operators

> Drive and control equipment to support agricultural activities such as tilling soil; planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops; feeding and herding livestock; or removing animal waste. 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.

- Code: 45-2091.00 (O*NET-SOC; SOC 2018 45-2091)
- Family: [Farming, Fishing & Forestry](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations#family-45), one of its 14 occupations
- Tasks: 17 tasks (8 core and 9 supplemental)
- Page: https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2091.00
- JSON: https://foundation.org.ai/data/tasks/45-2091.00.json

## What the work is made of

1. Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.  
   Core task · Task 13369 · Rated by 68 people who do the job, August 2019
2. Mix specified materials or chemicals, and dump solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.  
   Core task · Task 13358 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019
3. Spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control insects, fungus and weed growth, and diseases, using hand sprayers.  
   Core task · Task 13363 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019
4. Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions.  
   Core task · Task 13356 · Rated by 70 people who do the job, August 2019
5. Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.  
   Core task · Task 13360 · Rated by 69 people who do the job, August 2019
6. Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.  
   Core task · Task 13359 · Rated by 70 people who do the job, August 2019
7. Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify supervisors when machinery malfunctions.  
   Core task · Task 13355 · Rated by 71 people who do the job, August 2019
8. Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools.  
   Core task · Task 13364 · Rated by 70 people who do the job, August 2019
9. Load hoppers, containers, or conveyors to feed machines with products, using forklifts, transfer augers, suction gates, shovels, or pitchforks.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13362 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019
10. Direct and monitor the activities of work crews engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13361 · Rated by 66 people who do the job, August 2019
11. Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13365 · Rated by 66 people who do the job, August 2019
12. Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13368 · Rated by 68 people who do the job, August 2019
13. Walk beside or ride on planting machines while inserting plants in planter mechanisms at specified intervals.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13367 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019
14. Drive trucks to haul crops, supplies, tools, or farm workers.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13366 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019
15. Guide products on conveyors to regulate flow through machines, and to discard diseased or rotten products.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13370 · Rated by 65 people who do the job, August 2019
16. Position boxes or attach bags at discharge ends of machinery to catch products, removing and closing full containers.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13371 · Rated by 68 people who do the job, August 2019
17. Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps.  
   Supplemental task · Task 13357 · Rated by 67 people who do the job, August 2019

## More in Farming, Fishing & Forestry

- [Agricultural Inspectors](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2011.00): 16 tasks
- [Agricultural Workers, All Other](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2099.00): no tasks listed
- [Animal Breeders](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2021.00): 21 tasks
- [Fallers](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-4021.00): 18 tasks
- [Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2092.00): 27 tasks
- [Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2093.00): 19 tasks
- [First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-1011.00): 30 tasks
- [Fishing and Hunting Workers](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-3031.00): 30 tasks
- [Forest and Conservation Workers](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-4011.00): 17 tasks
- [Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-2041.00): 5 tasks
- [Log Graders and Scalers](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-4023.00): 12 tasks
- [Logging Equipment Operators](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-4022.00): 9 tasks
- [Logging Workers, All Other](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/45-4029.00): no tasks listed

## Where this comes from

Quoted from O*NET 29.0, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0: free to copy and reuse, with credit. Nothing on this page is written by the Org.AI Foundation.