Agricultural Equipment Operators — Tasks

Task statements

• Load and unload crops or containers of materials, manually or using conveyors, handtrucks, forklifts, or transfer augers.
• Mix specified materials or chemicals, and dump solutions, powders, or seeds into planter or sprayer machinery.
• Spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control insects, fungus and weed growth, and diseases, using hand sprayers.
• Observe and listen to machinery operation to detect equipment malfunctions.
• Manipulate controls to set, activate, and adjust mechanisms on machinery.
• Operate or tend equipment used in agricultural production, such as tractors, combines, and irrigation equipment.
• Adjust, repair, and service farm machinery and notify supervisors when machinery malfunctions.
• Attach farm implements such as plows, discs, sprayers, or harvesters to tractors, using bolts and hand tools.
• Load hoppers, containers, or conveyors to feed machines with products, using forklifts, transfer augers, suction gates, shovels, or pitchforks.
• Direct and monitor the activities of work crews engaged in planting, weeding, or harvesting activities.
• Operate towed machines such as seed drills or manure spreaders to plant, fertilize, dust, and spray crops.
• Weigh crop-filled containers, and record weights and other identifying information.
• Walk beside or ride on planting machines while inserting plants in planter mechanisms at specified intervals.
• Drive trucks to haul crops, supplies, tools, or farm workers.
• Guide products on conveyors to regulate flow through machines, and to discard diseased or rotten products.
• Position boxes or attach bags at discharge ends of machinery to catch products, removing and closing full containers.
• Irrigate soil, using portable pipes or ditch systems, and maintain ditches or pipes and pumps.