Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

Low pay & lowrisk
Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers
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Why it fits

Advancement path for experienced farmworkers who coordinate crews, animal care, schedules, safety, and records.

Animal Trainers
12% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Higher growth
28.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Reuses handling, behavior observation, feeding routines, safety, and calm work with large or small animals.

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
31% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Plausible for animal-care workers who add clinical training in health assessment, lab work, and treatment support.

Animal Control Workers
30% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
10.1 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits workers with animal handling, restraint, safety judgment, public contact, and welfare awareness.

Biological Technicians
33% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Weaker but realistic for workers with animal production records who add lab, sampling, and research support skills.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
2.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

41% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 44 votes

44% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 41% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals was $36,150 ($17 per hour).

The median annual wage for Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals was 27.0% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals' job openings is expected to decline 5.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 35,420 people employed as 'Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 4 thousand people are employed as 'Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals'.

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What people are saying (2)

Kamei (Low)
10 Sep 2024 03:59
I live in New Zealand where like 80% of the people are farmers so I feel like there would be a low chance of them being replaced. If i didnt live in NZ id answer differently
veabb (Highly likely)
17 Nov 2023 15:46
I work in the mountain coffee growing sector, where it is more difficult to mechanize due to the relief of the soil, and we are on the way to mechanize, modify the soil to facilitate work with tractors
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, rabbits, finfish, shellfish, and bees. Attend to animals produced for animal products, such as meat, fur, skins, feathers, eggs, milk, and honey. Duties may include feeding, watering, herding, grazing, milking, castrating, branding, de-beaking, weighing, catching, and loading animals. May maintain records on animals; examine animals to detect diseases and injuries; assist in birth deliveries; and administer medications, vaccinations, or insecticides as appropriate. May clean and maintain animal housing areas. Includes workers who shear wool from sheep and collect eggs in hatcheries.

O*NET-SOC code: 45-2093.00