How to become an agricultural equipment operator

Drive and control equipment to support agricultural activities such as tilling soil; planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops; feeding and herding livestock; or removing animal waste. May perform tasks such as crop baling or hay bucking. May operate stationary equipment to perform post-harvest tasks such as husking, shelling, threshing, and ginning.

Steps to get there

Most employers expect usually requires a high school diploma or ged, though some occupations may not..Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

What agricultural equipment operators do

• Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify supervisors when machinery malfunctions.
• Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions.
• Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.
• Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools.
• Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.
• Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.

Skills that matter most

• Active Listening
• Critical Thinking
• Speaking
• Monitoring
• Reading Comprehension
• Active Learning
• Writing
• Mathematics

Is agricultural equipment operator a good career?

On the numbers, this job is close to the average across occupations. Median pay is 18% below the all-occupation median. Whether it fits you depends on the work itself, the schooling you are willing to do and where you want to live.

Where it pays most

• Montana $58,770
• Louisiana $58,520
• Delaware $49,910
• Massachusetts $49,150
• Minnesota $48,520

Agricultural Equipment Operators salary by state and city

Sources: O*NET® 31.0 (CC BY 4.0, USDOL/ETA) and BLS Employment Projections 2025–35. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025.