Managers and proprietors
in agriculture and horticulture
Managers and proprietors in this unit group plan, organise and co-ordinate the activities and resources of farming and mixed farming establishments cultivating arable crops, fruits, trees and shrubs, and/or raising cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Managers and proprietors in horticulture oversee the production of plants for wholesale and/or retail.
- Employees (UK)
- 16k
- Median annual pay
- £34,976
- Exposure score ?
- 0.5/10 Minimal 6.8/10 High strict reading, with tools is 6.8/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.5/10
- Wage exposure
- £28m £381m
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.
Most of the routine work in this role can already be done by a capable model. The role does not disappear, but its shape changes, and one person can credibly cover the work of several.
If you are in this role
Stop spending time on what a model can do well. Your value is judgement, relationships and the parts of the work that need you in the room. Redesign the workflow around that before someone else does it for you.
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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Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data.
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Manage nurseries that grow horticultural plants for sale to trade or retail customers, for display or exhibition, or for research.
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Direct and monitor trapping and spawning of fish, egg incubation, and fry rearing, applying knowledge of management and fish culturing techniques.
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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Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data.
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Determine how to allocate resources and to respond to unanticipated problems, such as insect infestation, drought, and fire.
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Determine plant growing conditions, such as greenhouses, hydroponics, or natural settings, and set planting and care schedules.
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 "Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers" (11-9013.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 30 tasks, unaided
Prepare reports required by state and federal laws.
What still needs a person
29 of 30 tasks
Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data.
Manage nurseries that grow horticultural plants for sale to trade or retail customers, for display or exhibition, or for research.
Direct and monitor trapping and spawning of fish, egg incubation, and fry rearing, applying knowledge of management and fish culturing techniques.
Direct and monitor the transfer of mature fish to lakes, ponds, streams, or commercial tanks.
Determine how to allocate resources and to respond to unanticipated problems, such as insect infestation, drought, and fire.
Determine plant growing conditions, such as greenhouses, hydroponics, or natural settings, and set planting and care schedules.
Devise and participate in activities to improve fish hatching and growth rates, and to prevent disease in hatcheries.
Position and regulate plant irrigation systems, and program environmental and irrigation control computers.
Inspect facilities and equipment for signs of disrepair, and perform necessary maintenance work.
Maintain financial, operational, production, or employment records for farms or ranches.
Coordinate clerical, record-keeping, inventory, requisitioning, and marketing activities.
Direct the breeding or raising of stock, such as cattle, poultry, or honeybees, using recognized breeding practices to ensure stock improvement.
Negotiate with buyers for the sale, storage, or shipment of crops or livestock.
Coordinate the selection and maintenance of brood stock.
Analyze soil to determine types or quantities of fertilizer required for maximum crop production.
Provide information to customers on the care of trees, shrubs, flowers, plants, and lawns.
Analyze market conditions to determine acreage allocations.
Replace chemical insecticides with environmentally friendly practices, such as adding pest-repelling plants to fields.
Supervise the construction of farm or ranch structures, such as buildings, fences, drainage systems, wells, or roads.
Conduct inspections to determine crop maturity or condition or to detect disease or insect infestation.
Conduct or supervise stock examinations to identify diseases or parasites.
Determine types or quantities of crops, plants, or livestock to be grown and raised, based on budgets, federal incentives, market conditions, executive directives, projected sales volumes, or soil conditions.
Determine, administer, and execute policies relating to operations administration and standards, facility maintenance, and safety.
Direct crop production operations, such as planning, tilling, planting, fertilizing, cultivating, spraying, and harvesting.
Evaluate marketing or sales alternatives for products.
Hire, supervise, and train support workers.
Monitor activities, such as irrigation, chemical application, harvesting, milking, breeding, and grading, to ensure adherence to safety regulations or standards.
Monitor environments to ensure maintenance of optimum animal or plant life.
Obtain financing for and purchase necessary machinery, land, supplies, or livestock.
Tasks via O*NET "Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers" (11-9013.00).
What AI can already do
22 of 30 tasks, with tools
Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data.
Determine how to allocate resources and to respond to unanticipated problems, such as insect infestation, drought, and fire.
Determine plant growing conditions, such as greenhouses, hydroponics, or natural settings, and set planting and care schedules.
Devise and participate in activities to improve fish hatching and growth rates, and to prevent disease in hatcheries.
Prepare reports required by state and federal laws.
Position and regulate plant irrigation systems, and program environmental and irrigation control computers.
Maintain financial, operational, production, or employment records for farms or ranches.
Coordinate clerical, record-keeping, inventory, requisitioning, and marketing activities.
Negotiate with buyers for the sale, storage, or shipment of crops or livestock.
Analyze soil to determine types or quantities of fertilizer required for maximum crop production.
Provide information to customers on the care of trees, shrubs, flowers, plants, and lawns.
Analyze market conditions to determine acreage allocations.
Replace chemical insecticides with environmentally friendly practices, such as adding pest-repelling plants to fields.
Conduct inspections to determine crop maturity or condition or to detect disease or insect infestation.
Conduct or supervise stock examinations to identify diseases or parasites.
Determine types or quantities of crops, plants, or livestock to be grown and raised, based on budgets, federal incentives, market conditions, executive directives, projected sales volumes, or soil conditions.
Determine, administer, and execute policies relating to operations administration and standards, facility maintenance, and safety.
Direct crop production operations, such as planning, tilling, planting, fertilizing, cultivating, spraying, and harvesting.
Evaluate marketing or sales alternatives for products.
Monitor activities, such as irrigation, chemical application, harvesting, milking, breeding, and grading, to ensure adherence to safety regulations or standards.
Monitor environments to ensure maintenance of optimum animal or plant life.
Obtain financing for and purchase necessary machinery, land, supplies, or livestock.
What still needs a person
8 of 30 tasks
Manage nurseries that grow horticultural plants for sale to trade or retail customers, for display or exhibition, or for research.
Direct and monitor trapping and spawning of fish, egg incubation, and fry rearing, applying knowledge of management and fish culturing techniques.
Direct and monitor the transfer of mature fish to lakes, ponds, streams, or commercial tanks.
Inspect facilities and equipment for signs of disrepair, and perform necessary maintenance work.
Direct the breeding or raising of stock, such as cattle, poultry, or honeybees, using recognized breeding practices to ensure stock improvement.
Coordinate the selection and maintenance of brood stock.
Supervise the construction of farm or ranch structures, such as buildings, fences, drainage systems, wells, or roads.
Hire, supervise, and train support workers.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Managers, directors and senior officials, 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