How To Become A Grain Inspector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a grain inspector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a grain inspector. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.96 an hour? That's $35,273 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -17,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreGrain InspectorUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,273

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.2

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.77%

Asian 7.73%

Black or African American 9.78%

Hispanic or Latino 12.07%

Unknown 4.39%

White 65.26%

Gender

female 33.81%

male 66.19%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

8.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.4

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a grain inspector

Explore grain inspector education requirements

Most common grain inspector degrees

High School Diploma

39.7 %

Bachelor's

28.2 %

Associate

21.8 %

Start to develop specific grain inspector skills

Skills	Percentages
Foreign Materials	20.22%
USDA	19.75%
Commodities	14.70%
Safety Procedures	10.47%
Rail Cars	9.65%

Complete relevant grain inspector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New grain inspectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a grain inspector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real grain inspector resumes.

Research grain inspector duties and responsibilities

Sample, inspect, and grade various commodities according to USDA specifications.
Pull samples, inspect and assess commodities for process products and grain in compliance with USDA guidelines.
Use of moisture meters, dividers, scales, conveyors, and computer automate bulk weighing systems.
Conduct dimensional and visual inspections procedures on CMM machines to ensure geometrical characteristics of the product are in specification.

Prepare your grain inspector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your grain inspector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a grain inspector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable grain inspector resume templates

Build a professional grain inspector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your grain inspector resume.