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.

On the job, you would:

• 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.

Education

• no high school diploma/GED
• high school diploma/GED

Arts and Humanities

• English language

Engineering and Technology

• mechanical

Basic Skills

• listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Problem Solving

• noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Realistic

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

• Dependability
• Persistence
• Cooperation
• Attention to Detail
• Independence
• Initiative

Controlled Movement

• quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat
• use your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down

Hand and Finger Use

• keep your arm or hand steady
• hold or move items with your hands