Also called: Tractor Driver, Combine Operator
Drives tractors, combines, and sprayers to plant, fertilize, and harvest crops.
You sit high up in an air-conditioned cab with GPS steering, watching monitors that show seed rates and yields in real time. During planting and harvest you might run the machine 12+ hours, then grease and check it before the next day.
Often seasonal.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
No formal education, about 0 years after high school. Learned on the job; a CDL helps for hauling.
Ways in: On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Agricultural workers overall.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Self-driving tractors already till and plant on some farms; by 2036 one person may supervise several machines instead of driving one.
Age 16+. One way to start: Ask local farms and custom operators for seasonal tractor driver jobs at planting or harvest
Classes: Ag mechanics CTE, Driver's education, Agriculture science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 45-2091.
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