Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.2). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international 5 occupations below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Tasks

All 30 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

• Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers. Supplemental · importance 4.2
• Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs. Core · importance 4.1
• Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting. Core · importance 4.1
• Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them. Core · importance 4.0
• Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops. Core · importance 4.0
• Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems. Supplemental · importance 4.0
• Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease. Supplemental · importance 3.8
• Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment. Core · importance 3.8
• Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products. Supplemental · importance 3.8
• Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand. Core · importance 3.8
• Set up and operate irrigation equipment. Core · importance 3.7
• Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems. Supplemental · importance 3.7
• Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs. Supplemental · importance 3.7
• Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress. Core · importance 3.7
• Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers. Core · importance 3.5
• Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops. Core · importance 3.5
• Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required. Supplemental · importance 3.4
• Record information about plants and plant growth. Supplemental · importance 3.4
• Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting. Supplemental · importance 3.4
• Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities. Core · importance 3.3
• Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality. Supplemental · importance 3.3
• Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors. Supplemental · importance 3.2
• Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders. Supplemental · importance 3.2
• Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping. Core · importance 3.1
• Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels. Supplemental · importance 3.1
• Repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures. Supplemental · importance 2.9
• Cut, roll, and stack sod. Supplemental
• Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools.
• Sow grass seed, or plant plugs of grass. Supplemental
• Trap and destroy pests, such as moles, gophers, and mice, using pesticides. Supplemental

Work activities

• Mark agricultural or forestry products for identification.
• Harvest agricultural products.
• Operate farming equipment.
• Operate irrigation systems.
• Maintain forestry, hunting, or agricultural equipment.
• Clean equipment or facilities.
• Transport animals, crops, or equipment.
• Sell agricultural products.
• Confer with managers to make operational decisions.
• Direct activities of agricultural, forestry, or fishery employees.
• Examine characteristics or behavior of living organisms.
• Evaluate quality of plants or crops.
• Advise others on farming or forestry operations, regulations, or equipment.
• Build agricultural structures.
• Plant crops, trees, or other plants.
• Cut trees or logs.
• Maintain operational records.
• Maintain inventories of materials, equipment, or products.
• Prepare land for agricultural use.
• Sort forestry or agricultural materials.
• Package agricultural products for shipment or further processing.
• Load agricultural or forestry products for shipment.
• Perform manual agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural tasks.

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Abilities

Essential skills

Transferable skills

Knowledge

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

• Finger Dexterity Common Skill
• Speech Recognition Specialized Skill
• Microsoft Word Common Skill
• Microsoft PowerPoint Common Skill
• Microsoft Outlook Common Skill
• Microsoft Excel Common Skill
• Deductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Inductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Active Listening Common Skill
• Biology Specialized Skill
• Writing Common Skill
• Visualization Specialized Skill
• Time Management Common Skill
• Social Perceptiveness Common Skill
• Reading Comprehension Common Skill
• Information Ordering Specialized Skill
• Critical Thinking Common Skill
• Chemistry Specialized Skill
• Equipment Maintenance Specialized Skill
• Active Learning Common Skill
• Mathematics Common Skill
• English Language Common Skill
• Systems Analysis Specialized Skill
• Learning Strategies Specialized Skill
• Depth Perception Common Skill
• Equipment Selection Specialized Skill
• Complex Problem Solving Common Skill
• Instructing Specialized Skill
• Negotiation Common Skill
• Psychology Specialized Skill
• Geography Specialized Skill
• Physics Specialized Skill
• Telecommunications Specialized Skill
• Installation Specialized Skill
• Foreign Language Common Skill
• Presentation Software Specialized Skill

Tools & technology

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

How to get in

Job zone

Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Education

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Typical entry-level education

No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement

Related experience

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Preparation level

SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Interest areas

Work styles

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Related occupations

Part of the Agriculture career cluster.

• Agricultural Equipment Operators · 45-2091.00 Compare →
• Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals · 45-2093.00 Compare →
• Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products · 45-2041.00 Compare →
• Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers · 37-3011.00 Compare →
• Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation · 37-3012.00 Compare →
• Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · 51-9012.00 Compare →
• Forest and Conservation Workers · 45-4011.00 Compare →
• Tree Trimmers and Pruners · 37-3013.00 Compare →
• Fallers · 45-4021.00 Compare →
• Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand · 53-7062.00 Compare →
• Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers · 11-9013.00 Compare →
• Soil and Plant Scientists · 19-1013.00 Compare →

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
• AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
• ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
• IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
• Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-role-45-2092-00,
  title  = {Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-45-2092-00}
}