Farm workers
Farm workers perform a variety of tasks, by hand and machine, to produce and harvest crops and to breed and rear cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.4/10 Minimal 2.1/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 2.1/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.4/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 26% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
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Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
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Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
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Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.
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Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse" (45-2092.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 27 tasks, unaided
Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
Record information about plants and plant growth.
What still needs a person
25 of 27 tasks
Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.
Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.
Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.
Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.
Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.
Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.
Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand.
Set up and operate irrigation equipment.
Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.
Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.
Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.
Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.
Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.
Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.
Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.
Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.
Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.
Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.
Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.
Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.
Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.
Repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures.
Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools.
Tasks via O*NET "Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse" (45-2092.00).
What AI can already do
7 of 27 tasks, with tools
Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.
Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.
Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.
Record information about plants and plant growth.
Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.
Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.
What still needs a person
20 of 27 tasks
Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.
Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.
Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.
Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.
Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand.
Set up and operate irrigation equipment.
Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.
Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.
Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.
Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.
Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.
Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.
Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.
Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.
Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.
Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.
Repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures.
Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Elementary occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons