Occupation: Agricultural Equipment Operators

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.

45-2091.00 | 17 tasks | 10 job titles
Reported Job Titles (10)
  • Baler Operator
  • Cutter Operator
  • Equipment Operator
  • Farm Equipment Operator
  • Hay Baler
  • Loader Operator
  • Packing Tractor Machine Operator
  • Rake Operator
  • Sprayer
  • Windrower Operator
Core Tasks (8)
  • 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.
Supplemental Tasks (9)
  • 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.
  • Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops.
  • Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information.
  • Walk beside or ride on planting machines while inserting plants in planter mechanisms at specified intervals.
  • Drive trucks to haul crops, supplies, tools, or farm workers.
  • Guide products on conveyors to regulate flow through machines, and to discard diseased or rotten products.
  • Position boxes or attach bags at discharge ends of machinery to catch products, removing and closing full containers.
  • Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps.