Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.

“Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.” is a core task performed by Soil and Plant Scientists. Among the occupation's 27 rated tasks, workers place it 26th by importance (#2 most important). About 70% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Develop sustainable organizational or business policies or practices. in Thinking Creatively

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops. · importance 4.2
• Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion. · importance 4.0
• Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates. · importance 4.0
• Investigate soil problems or poor water quality to determine sources and effects. · importance 3.8
• Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity. · importance 3.8
• Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment. · importance 3.7
• Identify degraded or contaminated soils and develop plans to improve their chemical, biological, or physical characteristics. · importance 3.6
• Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests. · importance 3.6
• Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties. · importance 3.5
• Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation. · importance 3.5
• Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology. · importance 3.5
• Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products. · importance 3.5
• Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests. · importance 3.5
• Study ways to improve agricultural sustainability, such as the use of new methods of composting. · importance 3.4

See all tasks on the Soil and Plant Scientists page.

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
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-task-9024,
  title  = {Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-9024}
}