AI exposure: Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate the management or operation of farms, ranches, greenhouses, aquacultural operations, nurseries, timber tracts, or other agricultural establishments. May hire, train, and supervise farm workers or contract for services to carry out the day-to-day activities of the managed operation. May engage in or supervise planting, cultivating, harvesting, and financial and marketing activities.
Reading this score
computed34.1% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers at the 59th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.2 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 1.94 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data, at 73.3%. The least is Replace chemical insecticides with environmentally friendly practices, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within management occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 41.4% across the group's 56 roles, with 50 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 11 assisted and 8 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collect and record growth, production, and environmental data. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Provide information to customers on the care of trees, shrubs, flowers, plants, and lawns. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.67 | exposed |
| Analyze market conditions to determine acreage allocations. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.44 | exposed |
| Maintain financial, operational, production, or employment records for farms or ranches. | 70.0% | 30.0% | 0.0% | 3.86 | exposed |
| Prepare reports required by state and federal laws. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Determine how to allocate resources and to respond to unanticipated problems, such as insect infestation, drought, and fire. | 55.6% | 27.8% | 16.7% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Evaluate marketing or sales alternatives for products. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| 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. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Obtain financing for and purchase necessary machinery, land, supplies, or livestock. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Monitor activities, such as irrigation, chemical application, harvesting, milking, breeding, and grading, to ensure adherence to safety regulations or standards. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Determine, administer, and execute policies relating to operations administration and standards, facility maintenance, and safety. | 31.2% | 31.2% | 37.5% | – | assisted |
| Coordinate clerical, record-keeping, inventory, requisitioning, and marketing activities. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.84 | exposed |
| Manage nurseries that grow horticultural plants for sale to trade or retail customers, for display or exhibition, or for research. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.36 | assisted |
| Direct and monitor trapping and spawning of fish, egg incubation, and fry rearing, applying knowledge of management and fish culturing techniques. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.20 | assisted |
| Direct and monitor the transfer of mature fish to lakes, ponds, streams, or commercial tanks. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.11 | assisted |
| Determine plant growing conditions, such as greenhouses, hydroponics, or natural settings, and set planting and care schedules. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.09 | assisted |
| Devise and participate in activities to improve fish hatching and growth rates, and to prevent disease in hatcheries. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.00 | assisted |
| Direct the breeding or raising of stock, such as cattle, poultry, or honeybees, using recognized breeding practices to ensure stock improvement. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.83 | assisted |
| Negotiate with buyers for the sale, storage, or shipment of crops or livestock. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.76 | assisted |
| Coordinate the selection and maintenance of brood stock. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.75 | assisted |
| Direct crop production operations, such as planning, tilling, planting, fertilizing, cultivating, spraying, and harvesting. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Hire, supervise, and train support workers. | 19.4% | 22.2% | 58.3% | – | untouched |
| Monitor environments to ensure maintenance of optimum animal or plant life. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Analyze soil to determine types or quantities of fertilizer required for maximum crop production. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.72 | untouched |
| Conduct inspections to determine crop maturity or condition or to detect disease or insect infestation. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Inspect facilities and equipment for signs of disrepair, and perform necessary maintenance work. | 7.5% | 5.0% | 87.5% | 3.88 | untouched |
| Supervise the construction of farm or ranch structures, such as buildings, fences, drainage systems, wells, or roads. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.09 | untouched |
| Conduct or supervise stock examinations to identify diseases or parasites. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Position and regulate plant irrigation systems, and program environmental and irrigation control computers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Replace chemical insecticides with environmentally friendly practices, such as adding pest-repelling plants to fields. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.13 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 10 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.20 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.04 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.06 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.21 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.94 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.64 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.