What does a farm operator do?
Farm operators make day-to-day management decisions on farms. An operator could be the owner, the manager, a cash tenant, a share tenant, or a partner. Farm operators must not only be excellent at growing crops and raising animals, but also at handling finances. They are responsible for operating farm equipment, providing maintenance, managing budgets, and creating business plans.
Farm operator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real farm operator resumes:
- Manage all financial and payroll each week.
- Lead farm tours and help organize CSA member events.
- Manage daily health care and feed rations for livestock (sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens).
- Conduct routine maintenance and emergency repair of harvesters.
- Collect samples daily to ensure products are ISO approve.
- Supervise all levels of business from beginning of harvest to delivery.
- Follow a daily schedule and feed cows, goats, pigs, and chickens.
- Maintain, repair and overhaul small tools, field equipment, trucks, tractors, milking equipment and buildings.
- Frame a distribution model on produce tropical vegetable to supply the local market with limit post- harvest lose and maximum return.
- Assist with a variety of farm duties which include: driving tractors and other farm equipment, mowing, painting and cleaning
- Follow strict cleanliness procedures to ensure a sanitary milking parlor.
- General labor on family farm to include baling hay, and maintenance on farm equipment.
- Mix specify materials or chemicals and dump solutions, powders or seeds into planters, and sprayers.
Farm operator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Farm Operators are proficient in Log Entries, Storage Tanks, and CDL. They’re also known for soft skills such as Dexterity, Listening skills, and Mechanical skills.
We break down the percentage of Farm Operators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Log Entries, 27%
Make required log entries of fuel transactions, quality control and maintenance
- Storage Tanks, 22%
Transfer products and monitor storage tanks, pipe lines, and related equipment to ensure good working order.
- CDL, 13%
68767Processed cows, worked cow/calf operation, general repairs on equipment and building, also my utilized CDL license.
- Harvest, 11%
Frame a distribution model on produced tropical vegetable to supply the local market with limited post- harvest lost and maximum return.
- Diesel Fuel, 7%
Ordered and received jet fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel, and avgas via truck.
- Farm Machinery, 4%
Operate, maintain, and repair farm machinery including: 4630 John Deere Tractor and 6620 John Deere combine.
Most farm operators use their skills in "log entries," "storage tanks," and "cdl" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential farm operator responsibilities here:
Dexterity. The most essential soft skill for a farm operator to carry out their responsibilities is dexterity. This skill is important for the role because "agricultural workers need excellent hand-eye coordination to harvest crops and operate farm machinery." Additionally, a farm operator resume shows how their duties depend on dexterity: "fed machines with products using forklifts, transfer augers, shovels and pitchforks. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling farm operator duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "agricultural workers must listen carefully to ensure that they understand instructions from farmers and other agricultural managers and supervisors." According to a farm operator resume, here's how farm operators can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "operated farm equipment, provided maintenance and repair - conducted independent work and communicated well with a team"
Mechanical skills. This is an important skill for farm operators to perform their duties. For an example of how farm operator responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "agricultural workers must be able to operate complex farm machinery." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a farm operator: "performed mechanical equipment repairs on motors, pumps, piping systems, and hydraulic units. ".
The three companies that hire the most farm operators are:
- Menzies Aviation31 farm operators jobs
- GROWMARK5 farm operators jobs
- Anheuser-Busch2 farm operators jobs
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Compare different farm operators
Farm operator vs. Custom harvester
Also called agricultural workers, farm laborers are people who inspect and harvest crops. The workers irrigate soil on the farm and maintain their pumps, pipes, or ditches. They service and operate farm tools and machinery. Their job involves the maintenance of crops like vegetables, nuts, and fruits. They look after livestock on the farm like cows, chickens, etc. Also, they inspect the animals for the detection of symptoms of injuries or illnesses and administer vaccines for disease protection.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a farm operator are more likely to require skills like "log entries," "tests products," "storage tanks," and "supports quality." On the other hand, a job as a custom harvester requires skills like "mechanical problems," "grain trucks," "pre trip," and "building things." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, custom harvesters reach similar levels of education than farm operators. Custom harvesters are 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Farm operator vs. Baler
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, farm operator responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "log entries," "tests products," "storage tanks," and "supports quality." Meanwhile, a baler has duties that require skills in areas such as "pallets," "baling," "waste paper," and "aug." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Balers earn a higher average salary than farm operators. But balers earn the highest pay in the media industry, with an average salary of $34,296. Additionally, farm operators earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $30,179 annually.balers earn similar levels of education than farm operators in general. They're 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Farm operator vs. Fertilizer applicator
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, farm operators are more likely to have skills like "log entries," "tests products," "storage tanks," and "supports quality." But a fertilizer applicator is more likely to have skills like "application equipment," "nh3," "extreme heat," and "spring."
Most fertilizer applicators achieve a similar degree level compared to farm operators. For example, they're 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Farm operator vs. Farm labour
Types of farm operator
Updated January 8, 2025
