AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse?

Task-level automation exposure for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse: 27 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

22% weighted task index

27 of 27 tasks scored

Median Salary

$35,660 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

High

265,500 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-2.4% employment change

72,500 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 51 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$21,960 – $55,180

Highest medians

Wyoming $55,180

South Dakota $42,260

Montana $41,390

Illinois $41,050

New York $40,930

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $21,960

Mississippi $30,250

Georgia $30,300

Florida $30,640

Tennessee $31,020

State figures come from the 45-2092 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 22%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 62%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 19%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 7%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 12/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

27 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 10%

3 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 18%

5 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 72%

19 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#23387 · Core · 80% automatable

Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.

data analysis — Maintain operational records in structured systems

Maintain operational records.

#23379 · Core · 27% automatable

Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.

interpersonal — Directing field employees is on-site human supervision

Direct activities of agricultural, forestry, or fishery employees.

#23392 · Core · 7% automatable

Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.

physical manipulation — Agricultural material sorting is hands-on field work

Sort forestry or agricultural materials.

#23370 · Core · 7% automatable

Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.

physical manipulation — Marking forestry products is manual field work

Mark agricultural or forestry products for identification. Harvest agricultural products.

#23373 · Core · 18% automatable

Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.

physical manipulation — Hands-on repair of field equipment in unstructured settings

Maintain forestry, hunting, or agricultural equipment.

#23374 · Core · 3% automatable

Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand.

physical manipulation — Harvesting requires dexterous field manipulation

Harvest agricultural products.

#23372 · Core · 15% automatable

Set up and operate irrigation equipment.

physical manipulation — Irrigation system operation involves field hardware

Operate irrigation systems.

#23378 · Core · 42% automatable

Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.

interpersonal — Live managerial conferral; AI can draft but not decide

Confer with managers to make operational decisions.

#23380 · Core · 35% automatable

Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.

physical manipulation — Examining live organisms needs hands-on lab work

Examine characteristics or behavior of living organisms.

#23371 · Core · 8% automatable

Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.

situated mobility — Farming equipment operation in unstructured fields

Operate farming equipment.

#23397 · Core · 3% automatable

Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.

physical manipulation — Manual loading of agricultural products

Load agricultural or forestry products for shipment.

#23375 · Core · 10% automatable

Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.

physical manipulation — Equipment and facility cleaning is hands-on

Clean equipment or facilities.

#23376 · Supplemental · 18% automatable

Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.

interpersonal — Relationship-driven sales of physical agricultural products

Transport animals, crops, or equipment. Sell agricultural products.

#23381 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.

physical manipulation — Irrigation system operation involves field hardware

Operate irrigation systems.

#23383 · Supplemental · 35% automatable

Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.

visual inspection — Crop quality needs physical inspection and sensory judgment

Evaluate quality of plants or crops.

#23384 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.

decision support — General guidance good; site-specific judgment needs human

Advise others on farming or forestry operations, regulations, or equipment.

#23385 · Supplemental · 11% automatable

Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.

physical manipulation — Irrigation system operation involves field hardware

Build agricultural structures. Operate irrigation systems.

#23386 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.

physical manipulation — Chainsaw work in unpredictable forest terrain

Plant crops, trees, or other plants. Cut trees or logs.

#23390 · Supplemental · 80% automatable

Record information about plants and plant growth.

data analysis — Maintain operational records in structured systems

Maintain operational records.

#23389 · Supplemental · 70% automatable

Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.

data analysis — Materials inventory records and forecasting automatable

Maintain inventories of materials, equipment, or products.

#23391 · Supplemental · 3% automatable

Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.

physical manipulation — Land preparation requires heavy physical work

Prepare land for agricultural use.

#23393 · Supplemental · 35% automatable

Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.

visual inspection — Crop quality needs physical inspection and sensory judgment

Evaluate quality of plants or crops.

#23395 · Supplemental · 6% automatable

Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.

physical manipulation — Physical transport of animals, crops, equipment

Transport animals, crops, or equipment.

#23396 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.

physical manipulation — Packaging agricultural products is manual handling

Package agricultural products for shipment or further processing.

#23398 · Supplemental · 3% automatable

Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.

physical manipulation — Land preparation requires heavy physical work

Prepare land for agricultural use.

#23388 · Supplemental · 7% automatable

Repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures.

physical manipulation — Agricultural building is hands-on outdoor construction

Build agricultural structures.

#23399 · Core · 3% automatable

Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools.

physical manipulation — Manual agricultural labor in unstructured fields

Perform manual agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural tasks.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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