Agricultural Equipment Operator

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.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Baler Operator; Cutter Operator; Equipment Operator; Farm Equipment Operator; Hay Baler; Loader Operator; Packing Tractor Machine Operator; Rake Operator; Sprayer; Windrower Operator

Tasks

• 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.

Knowledge

• English Language

Skills

• Active Listening

Abilities

• Control Precision
• Multilimb Coordination
• Near Vision
• Problem Sensitivity
• Far Vision
• Depth Perception
• Oral Comprehension
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Response Orientation
• Rate Control
• Reaction Time
• Oral Expression
• Manual Dexterity
• Static Strength
• Trunk Strength
• Hearing Sensitivity
• Speech Clarity
• Deductive Reasoning
• Information Ordering
• Finger Dexterity
• Extent Flexibility
• Speech Recognition