Agricultural Equipment Operator
Have you always had a green thumb? Would you like to learn how to grow
Operate and maintain tractors, combines, and other heavy agricultural machinery for planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops.
Salary Range
$30,000 – $50,000
per year (10th–90th percentile)
Median Salary
$32,750
per year
Growth Outlook
2024–2034 projected
Work Outdoors, Learn a skill vital to the world, Put your green thumb to work!
Tasks & Responsibilities
- Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.
- Mix specified materials or chemicals, and dump solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.
- 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.
- Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.
- Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.
- 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.
- Load hoppers, containers, or conveyors to feed machines with products, using forklifts, transfer augers, suction gates, shovels, or pitchforks.
- Direct and monitor the activities of work crews engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities.
Tools of the Trade
Knowledge Areas
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar. 60/100
Mechanical
Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance. 47/100
Public Safety and Security
Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions. 45/100
Mathematics
Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. 44/100
Transportation
Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits. 43/100
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods. 42/100
Customer and Personal Service
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. 41/100
Chemistry
Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods. 40/100
Law and Government
Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process. 39/100
Design
Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models. 34/100
Work Profile
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