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Agriculture

Agriculture 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.

Annual openings

179

Median wage

$37,290

Typical education

High school (GED)

Growth 2026–2032

+8%

Median wage source: Colorado BLS OEWS (2025).

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Career requirements

What does this career require?

Explore education, required qualifications, voluntary credentials and employer preferences for this role. Check the details to see which apply.

Typical education

High school (GED)

Credential requirement

Credential requirements not reported

Work experience

No previous work experience is required.

Many equipment operators begin to learn how to maintain the equipment, leading to a full or part-time job as a mechanic.
Many Future Farmers of America programs help students learn/practice how to use agriculture equipment.

Is this work a fit?

What the work actually feels like

How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.

Automation exposure

Moderate exposure

Some routine tasks may shift as tools improve, but the role is likely to adapt.

A typical day

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