Will AI replace Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse?

Not as a job, but it is already doing parts of the work. Across the 27 official task statements scored for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse (United States, SOC 45-2092), 0% of the importance-weighted core work is made of tasks today's AI could already do most of. The overall exposure score is 10 out of 100 (range 8–15, band: minimal). That is a statement about tasks, not about headcount: this measures what AI could do, not whether any employer adopts it, whether the law allows it, or whether doing the routine parts faster creates more demand for the human parts. Figures are from release 2026-q4.1.

What should someone working in “Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse” do about AI?

Start from the ledger rather than the headline: 0% of this job's weighted core work is exposed, and roughly 86% is not. The practical move is to spend more of your week on the tasks that score low, the ones above, and to get fluent at directing AI through the tasks that score high, because those are the parts that change whether or not you are ready for them. This page does not predict your job, and nothing here is career advice tailored to you: the score describes the occupation, not the person.

How is the AI exposure score for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse calculated?

Each official task statement for the occupation is rated on five published 0–4 dimensions (output replicability, physical embodiment, licensed accountability, real-time human trust, and data availability) by claude-opus-5 using scoring prompt task_scoring_v1.0. The model never writes the score; a published formula turns the five ratings into a 0–100 number, so every score can be recomputed by hand. The occupation figure is the importance-weighted mean across 27 scored tasks. The prompt, the rubric, the formula and the full dataset are published at https://futureproof.collab365.com/method and https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1 under CC BY 4.0.

US dataswitch to UK

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

selling and delivering plants and flowers to customers, feeling plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease, informing farmers or farm managers of crop progress and digging, cutting and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees and shrubs. If that's your week, this page is about your job.

The honest answer

AI changes the edges of this job, not the middle: harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them is work software can't reach.

Your move: what you can actually do about this ↓

Where the work sits, by task weight

shifting to AI: 0%
changing shape: 14%
staying human: 86%

These bars are tasks changing hands, not people being counted out. The ledger below shows which.

Whole-job exposure score 10 out of 100 (8–15 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, across 27 scored tasks. The number is the support for the sentence above it, not a headline about anyone’s future.

How we know this

What is measured: Every published task statement for farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse is rated on five dimensions: can a model produce the output, does the work need a body in a room, does it need a legally accountable person, does it depend on a person being trusted in the moment, and how much data exists. A published formula turns those five ratings into the score; the model never writes the number.

How the bar is built: Each task’s share of the bar is its published importance weight, so a task you do all day counts for more than one you do twice a year.

Release: 2026-q4.1, scores computed 2026-08-04. Read the full method.

What shifts is recording information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields or costs: the overhead at the edges, not the middle you trained for.

Your week, as this page understands it

Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities. The job title says “farmworkers”, “laborers”, “crop”, “nursery” or “greenhouse”: officially one job, several names. The real job is the part underneath: harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them. That is the thing someone has to be right about.

The exposed part of this job is specific, and we won’t pretend it is coming back. But farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse is not one task. It is 27 scored ones, and they are nowhere near equally exposed. The most durable of them, on this evidence, is harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them, and the ledger below shows exactly why.

Where the work sits, by task weight

shifting to AI: 0%
changing shape: 14%
staying human: 86%

These bars are tasks changing hands, not people being counted out. The ledger below shows which.

How we know this

How the bar is built: Each task’s share of the bar is its published importance weight, so a task you do all day counts for more than one you do twice a year.

Release: 2026-q4.1, scores computed 2026-08-04. Read the full method.

Your job, task by task

These are the official task statements for this occupation, in plain English, sorted by what the evidence says is happening to each one. The official wording sits under every line so you can check the rewrite against it.

1 of this occupation's scored task statements carry a score that was measured under a different occupation's context, because the statement is shared between jobs and has only been scored once so far. Each one names the occupation it was measured under in the free routes below; none is presented as a measurement for this job.
Task clusters are not derived in this release, so the task-cluster field is empty and no Collab365 Space routing is attached to this occupation yet.

Shifting to AI

0 tasks

Tasks today’s tools can already do most of. This is the part we will not soften: where these rows are the bulk of your week, the week changes.

Nothing in this job’s scored task list landed in this group. That is the measurement, not an editorial choice, and it is worth knowing either way.

Changing shape

4 tasks

Tasks where the machine takes the producing and a person keeps the checking, the deciding, or the answering-for-it. For most jobs this is the biggest group, and it is where "transformation, not termination" is literally visible.

Recording information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields or costs
The software now makes the first pass at information, but part of it still happens in the physical world. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 40 out of 100 (33–47 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: The record itself is simple to produce, but someone must be in the field to know what was actually applied and harvested.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 4/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Providing information and advice to the public regarding the selection
The software now makes the first pass at information, but part of it still happens in the physical world. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 43 out of 100 (36–50 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Plant selection and care advice is abundantly documented, though customers usually ask whoever is on the shop floor.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 4/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 4/4.
Recording information about plants and plant growth
The software now makes the first pass at information, but part of it still happens in the physical world. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Record information about plants and plant growth.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 46 out of 100 (39–53 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: The record keeping is simple, but the growth observations behind it come from being among the plants.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 4/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Maintaining inventory, ordering materials
The software now makes the first pass at inventory, ordering materials, but part of it still happens in the physical world. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 46 out of 100 (39–53 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Stock records and reordering run well in software, though counting what is actually on site means walking the nursery.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 4/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

Staying human

23 tasks

Tasks that stay with a person, because they happen in the physical world, because the rules need someone accountable, or because the value is that a specific person does them.

Harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them
This work happens in the physical world: plants, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Harvesting, transplanting and potting plants is physical work done by hand.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Directing and monitoring the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting
This work happens in the physical world: the work of casual, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 6 out of 100 (2–10 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Directing seasonal crews means being in the field, seeing the work and adjusting as conditions change.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Repairing and maintaining farm vehicles
This work happens in the physical world: farm vehicles, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Repairing vehicles and machinery is done with tools on the equipment.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Participating in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage and posting-harvest treatment of crops
This work happens in the physical world: the inspection, grading, sorting, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Inspecting, grading, sorting and storing crops is hands-on work with the produce.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Operating tractors, tractor-drawn machinery and self-propelled machinery
This work happens in the physical world: tractors, tractor-drawn machinery and self-propelled machinery, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Core
Source: “Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Driving tractors and machinery through fields is physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Identifying plants, pests and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers
This work happens in the physical world: plants, pests and weeds, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 28 out of 100 (21–35 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; work that happens in the physical world; someone qualified has to answer for it.
The rating behind it: Photo identification of pests and weeds works well, though spraying decisions are made on site by a certified applicator.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

Show the other 17 tasks

Informing farmers or farm managers of crop progress
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: farmers, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 29 out of 100 (22–36 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Writing up crop progress is straightforward reporting, but seeing how the crop is doing means walking the fields.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Regulating greenhouse conditions and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: greenhouse conditions, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 19 out of 100 (12–26 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Modern controls can run to a schedule, though vents, shading and outdoor irrigation still need someone walking the site.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Selling and delivering plants and flowers to customers
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: plants, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 12 out of 100 (8–16 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Selling is partly a counter task, but delivering plants and flowers means loading and driving them to customers.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Setting up and operating irrigation equipment
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: and operating irrigation equipment, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Set up and operate irrigation equipment.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Setting up and running irrigation equipment means moving pipes and valves in the field.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Harvesting fruits and vegetables by hand
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: fruits, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Harvest fruits and vegetables by hand.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Picking fruit and vegetables by hand is entirely physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Cleaning work areas and maintaining grounds and landscaping
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: work areas, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Core
Source: “Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Cleaning work areas and maintaining grounds is entirely hands-on.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Feeling plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: plants' leaves, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Feeling leaves and checking their colour is done with the plant in your hands.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Maintaining and repairing irrigation and climate control systems
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: irrigation, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Fixing irrigation and climate systems is practical repair work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Digging, cutting and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees and shrubs
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees and shrubs, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Digging, cutting and transplanting stock is physical work with tools.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Repairing farm buildings, fences and other structures
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: farm buildings, fences and other structures, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Repairing buildings and fences is practical construction work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Digging rake and screening soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: rake, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Digging, raking and screening soil and filling beds is entirely physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Inspecting plants and bud ties to assess quality
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: plants, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Judging plant quality means looking at and handling the plants themselves.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Moving containerized shrubs, plants and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: containerized shrubs, plants and trees, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Moving containerised plants and trees around is physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Tying and bunching flowers, plants, shrubs and trees
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: flowers, plants, shrubs and trees, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Tying, bunching, wrapping and packing plants is done entirely by hand.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Loading agricultural products into trucks
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: agricultural products, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Core
Source: “Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Loading produce and driving it to market is physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Hauling and spreading topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss and other materials to condition soil
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss and other materials, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Hauling and spreading soil and fertiliser is physical work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Planting, spraying, weed, fertilize, water and prune plants, shrubs and trees, using gardening tools
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: weed, fertilize, water and prune plants, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance not published
O*NET hasn't yet published importance ratings for this occupation's tasks, so the ordering here is ours, not theirs.
Source: “Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Planting, weeding, watering and pruning with garden tools is entirely hands-on.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

What this job pays, and how many people do it

Median pay: $35,660a year, the middle of the range, so half earn more and half earn less.bls-oews, 2025 · May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)
How we know this
Source: bls-oews
Reference period: May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)
Rounding: Shown as published.
People doing this job: 265,500in the US, 2025.bls-oews · May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)

What is deliberately not here: a forecast of how many of these jobs exist in ten years. Where an official projection exists for a market we publish it with its vintage; where it does not, we leave the space empty rather than borrow the other country’s number.

Why this is shifting

The reason is boringly specific. Most of what is shifting here is the same call made over and over on information, where the right answer is already known. The rows above are exactly that shape: recording information about crops. What it cannot do is be there in the room, and that is still where plants get done. Which is why this page talks about your tasks changing, not your job ending.

Your move

Over a pint: what I’d tell you if you were my friend

Start with what does not change: harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them is the middle of this job, and the evidence on this page says it stays with a person.

So, given all that: 0% of this job's task weight sits in rows the software is already learning, 14% in rows that change shape rather than disappear, and 86% in rows it is nowhere near. That is the position, measured across 27 scored tasks. It is not a forecast about you.

So the thing worth your attention is not the job going away. It is the layer around it. Recording information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields or costs is the part turning into software, and being the person who understands that layer is worth money.

This week: one thing

Ask the one question. Find whoever is bringing new software into your workplace (the manager, the office, whoever runs the system) and ask them what it is meant to do to information, and what it is not meant to touch. Ten minutes, this week, before anyone decides it for you.

What you end up holding: a straight answer about what is actually being rolled out, and when
How long it takes: ten minutes

If there’s nobody obvious to ask, or you’d rather not ask your manager: Put the same question to your union rep, your shift lead or the person who has been there longest, in person, over a break. Same ten minutes, same answer, and you will usually get a straighter one. Write down what they say. The note is the artifact, and it tells you whether the work of casual is in scope or not. Nothing to log into, no license needed.

Over the next 90 days

Get inside the tool rollout rather than waiting for it. Over the next ninety days, ask to be in the group that tests, checks or signs off whatever new system arrives near recording information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields or costs. It is usually an unglamorous seat that nobody fights for, and it is the one that decides how the software is used on your job rather than to it.

Over the next 12 months

On this evidence I would not retrain out of this job, and I will say that plainly rather than hedge it. The task list here is dominated by work that stays with a person. What I would do with a year is get formally recognised for the layer around it (the systems, the compliance, the planning), so you are the one who understands the software instead of the one it is done to. Before you pay for anything, use CareerOneStop - Find local training. It is free, it is the Labor Department's own service, and it is listed below with the rest of the free routes.

The roads out of here, and why I am not sending you down them

I looked at the obvious moves out of this job, and here is what I found.

I checked the 12 nearest US occupations to farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse (nearest by the work that AI is not taking, not by job title), and none of them survived. The closest was landscaping and groundskeeping workers: only about 8% of its durable work is work you already do. And on the numbers you do not need one. This job scores 10/100 here, with only 0% of the task list in the top band, and “harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them” is not work that hands over cleanly. None of them beats deepening what you already have.

How that was checked: this job was compared against all 830 US occupations in this release on their official task statements, and the 12 nearest were examined one by one. A move that turns on an industry, an employer or a qualification rather than on the work itself will not show up in a check like that. And this release carries no licence register, so anything you are weighing needs that looked up separately.

3 moves I checked and rejected

These are the obvious-looking jumps. They are here with their reasons rather than quietly dropped, because the ones that fail are worth knowing about. It is one less thing to turn over at night.

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers, and their equivalent is to trim or pick flowers and clean flower beds. Across both published task lists that is about 8% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 8% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step.
Look at that job’s page anyway →
Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already repair farm buildings, fences, and other structures, and their equivalent is to supervise the construction of farm or ranch structures. Across both published task lists that is about 6% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 6% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step. The pay gap is the market pricing a barrier: $89,900 against your $35,660 is 2.52× (OEWS May 2025 (both)), and you would be crossing it holding about 6% of their durable work. A gap that size with an overlap that small is a wish, not a route. And it is a narrow door: about 6,500 of those jobs against 265,500 of yours (OEWS May 2025), 2% as many seats.
Look at that job’s page anyway →
Agricultural Equipment Operators
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already set up and operate irrigation equipment, and their equivalent is to operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production. Across both published task lists that is about 5% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 5% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step. And it is a narrow door: about 28,500 of those jobs against 265,500 of yours (OEWS May 2025), 11% as many seats.
Look at that job’s page anyway →

What I’d stop worrying about

A friend tells you what not to spend fear on. This is that list.

The headline number you read somewhere
The big “X% of jobs” figures are about the whole economy, not about you. The number that describes your job is on this page: 0% of its task weight, across 27 scored tasks. Every row behind it is printed above with the source. Check ours; ignore theirs.
The headlines about your trade disappearing
They are usually about the technology, not the timetable. Changes to work like harvesting plants and transplant or pot and labelling them arrive through rules, insurance and money, slowly and visibly. This page tracks the task evidence and will move when it moves.
Retraining out of a job that is holding up
On this evidence I would not spend money leaving. Spend it on the layer around the job instead: the tools, the paperwork, the planning. That is where the change actually is.
The “obvious” next job everyone suggests
I checked the obvious moves and most of them did not survive. The reasons are printed with the routes above, including the pay and the gate. A move that fails on the numbers is worth knowing about so you can stop turning it over at night.

You are reading the United States figures

The United Kingdom splits this work across more than one official group, of which Farm workers is the closest. The pay and employment figures are not directly comparable, and we do not average them together.

Switch to the United Kingdom page →partial match

In UK official statistics this job is counted as Farm workers. Pay and employment stay on this page’s own group; the task list and the scores do not cross over.

Your route through this

Where to go next, and what it costs

Free, and complete

The moves above cost nothing. These are the real services that go with them: public, government-funded, and free at the point of use. Nothing on this page is behind an email address or a payment.

Anywhere in the US:
CareerOneStop - Find local training
Search what's running near you, from the Labor Department's own database, before anyone sells you a course.
Free to search; individual programs vary, and some are funded
Anywhere in the US:
American Job Center locator
An American Job Center will sit down with you for free. Find yours by ZIP code.
Free
- CareerOneStop local help hub
Anywhere in the US:
CareerOneStop - Licensed occupations finder
Check what your state actually requires before you pay for anything.
Free
Anywhere in the US:
CareerOneStop
Free

Why there is no community here

Collab365, who build this site, run paid Spaces for a small number of subjects, and none of them is built for this job. We are not going to point you at the nearest one and call it a fit.

So the free services listed on this page are the whole answer, and it is the same answer we would give a friend.

Noted, and thank you. We’ll email you if a Space for farmworkers / laborers / crop / nursery / greenhouse launches. Nothing else.

That did not look like an email address, so nothing was saved. Have another go below.

We could not save that. The fault is ours, not yours, and your address was not stored. Please try again later.

No Space for farmworkers / laborers / crop / nursery / greenhouse yet. Should there be one?

Collab365 Spaces is built by the same people as this site. We find the problems that AI and automation are creating inside one kind of work, then solve them as short courses, briefings and Blueprints. Each Space is the community too, so the research and the people doing your job are in the same place.

What a Space actually is, in full

Collab365 launches new communities where the need is real. If one for farmworkers / laborers / crop / nursery / greenhouse existed, with researched problems, courses and people in the same boat, would you want in?

Your email

We use your email address for one thing: to tell you if a Space for farmworkers / laborers / crop / nursery / greenhouse launches. We never sell it, never use it for unrelated marketing, and every email has a one-click unsubscribe. Our privacy policy has the full version.

This unlocks nothing. Every figure, every row and every step on this page is already yours, whether you fill this in or not.

No deadline on any of this. The page will still be here, and the data is refreshed on a published schedule rather than when someone wants a headline.

Questions people ask about this job

Will AI replace Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse?: Not as a job, but it is already doing parts of the work. Across the 27 official task statements scored for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse (United States, SOC 45-2092), 0% of the importance-weighted core work is made of tasks today's AI could already do most of. The overall exposure score is 10 out of 100 (range 8–15, band: minimal). That is a statement about tasks, not about headcount: this measures what AI could do, not whether any employer adopts it, whether the law allows it, or whether doing the routine parts faster creates more demand for the human parts. Figures are from release 2026-q4.1.
Which tasks in “Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse” can AI already do?: The highest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required” (46/100, partial); “Record information about plants and plant growth” (46/100, partial); “Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products” (43/100, partial). Each score comes from five published 0–4 ratings turned into a number by a published formula, and each carries the model's one-sentence reason on the page.
Which tasks in “Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse” stay human?: About 86% of this job's task weight sits in work that scores low for AI exposure. The lowest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, water, and prune plants, shrubs, and trees, using gardening tools” (0/100, minimal); “Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels” (0/100, minimal); “Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities” (0/100, minimal). Low scores usually mean the task needs a body in a room, a legally accountable human, or trust built in real time. Those are the three things the scoring rubric treats as gates rather than obstacles.
What should someone working in “Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse” do about AI?: Start from the ledger rather than the headline: 0% of this job's weighted core work is exposed, and roughly 86% is not. The practical move is to spend more of your week on the tasks that score low, the ones above, and to get fluent at directing AI through the tasks that score high, because those are the parts that change whether or not you are ready for them. This page does not predict your job, and nothing here is career advice tailored to you: the score describes the occupation, not the person.
How is the AI exposure score for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse calculated?: Each official task statement for the occupation is rated on five published 0–4 dimensions (output replicability, physical embodiment, licensed accountability, real-time human trust, and data availability) by claude-opus-5 using scoring prompt task_scoring_v1.0. The model never writes the score; a published formula turns the five ratings into a 0–100 number, so every score can be recomputed by hand. The occupation figure is the importance-weighted mean across 27 scored tasks. The prompt, the rubric, the formula and the full dataset are published at https://futureproof.collab365.com/method and https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1 under CC BY 4.0.

Where these numbers come from

Worth knowing about these figures

The match between this job and its counterpart in the other country is partial, so the two pages count slightly different groups of people.
1 of this occupation's scored task statements carry a score that was measured under a different occupation's context, because the statement is shared between jobs and has only been scored once so far. Each one names the occupation it was measured under in the free routes below; none is presented as a measurement for this job.
Task clusters are not derived in this release, so the task-cluster field is empty and no Collab365 Space routing is attached to this occupation yet.

Task statements: onet-dbProcessing: catalogue-bridge → onet-im-rt-weighting → task-scoring → score-aggregation
Task weights: onet-db (im-rt-with-imputed)
Scores: Rubric task_scoring_v1.0, model claude-opus-5, computed 2026-08-04.
Pay and employment: bls-oews (May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx))bls-oews (May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx))

Figures on this page come from release 2026-q4.1, published 2026-08-05. Every release keeps its own permanent address, so a figure you cite in March is still there, unchanged, in November.

The plain-English wording on this page is assembled directly from the task statements and the published ratings, not written by hand for this occupation. That is why it is specific, and it is also why we say so.

The routes and free resources further up are today’s, not the release’s (last reviewed 2026-08-05). A route is an offer, not a historical fact, so it moves on its own clock.

How we score a job Download this release Look up another job

Using these figures?

Cite this

Everything on this site is published under CC BY 4.0. Quote it, chart it, sell something built on it. Just say where it came from, and cite the dated release rather than the site, so the figure you quote stays checkable.

Plain text

Collab365 (2026). Collab365 Futureproof: task-level AI exposure for US and UK occupations, release 2026-q4.1 (methodVersion 2.0.0, promptVersion task_scoring_v1.0). https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Built with O*NET data (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); ONS data (Open Government Licence v3.0); GAISI task framework (arXiv:2507.22748, MIT); BLS data (public domain).

BibTeX

@misc{collab365futureproof2026q41,
  title        = {Collab365 Futureproof: task-level AI exposure for US and UK occupations, release 2026-q4.1},
  author       = {{Collab365}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1},
  note         = {Release 2026-q4.1, methodVersion 2.0.0, promptVersion task_scoring_v1.0, CC BY 4.0}
}

Permalink

https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1

Data as of release 2026-q4.1, published 2026-08-05. Releases never change after publication; when the figures move, a new dated release is published beside this one and this one stays exactly where it is.