Also called: Ag Autonomy Engineer, Precision Ag Robotics Engineer
Builds the software and sensors that let tractors, sprayers and harvesters drive and work by themselves.
You ride along in a self-driving tractor at dawn, watching on a laptop as it plants corn rows within an inch of perfect. When it hesitates at a muddy patch, you study its camera data and teach it how to tell mud from an obstacle.
Big equipment makers and ag-tech startups pay the most.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Bachelor's in agricultural, electrical, mechanical or computer engineering; master's common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Agricultural Engineering, Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Biosystems Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Computer Science.
Growing faster than average. Not tracked separately; precision ag is a growing field.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI driving software matures fast; field testing in dirt and weather and making it work on real farms stay human.
Classes: AP Computer Science, AP Physics, Agriculture CTE, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.