← UK Occupations
🇬🇧 UKSOC 5111· Skilled Agricultural and Related Trades

Farmers

Farmers and related occupations cultivate arable crops, fruits and trees, and raise cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and other livestock for consumption.

Agricultural contractorAgricultural technician (farming)Crofter (farming)FarmerHerd manager
£32,728
median salary
97,600
currently employed
147,401
projected 2035
Strong growth
7 tasks scored1 AI Automates2 AI Assists4 Human-Led

Task Bundle Breakdown

How AI interacts with this occupation's task bundle

14%
29%
57%
14%
AI automates
29%
AI assists
57%
Human-led

Task-by-Task Breakdown

Every task scored individually — sorted highest to lowest AI exposure

78

maintains records of production, finance and breeding

AI Automates

Farm management software with AI features (e.g., Agrivi, Granular) can largely automate record-keeping for production, finances, and breeding logs, reducing manual data entry significantly.

56

arranges for the sale of crops, livestock and other farm produce

AI Assists

AI-driven market platforms and tools like Farmbench or even ChatGPT can help analyse commodity price trends, identify buyers, draft sales communications, and time sales more strategically.

44

ensures good environmental practice is observed in all tasks

AI Assists

AI tools like Microsoft Copilot or specialist platforms (e.g., Hummingbird Technologies) can help monitor environmental compliance, flag regulatory requirements, and analyse satellite imagery for soil and habitat health.

33

plants, propagates, sprays, fertilises and harvests field crops

Human-Led

Precision agriculture platforms like John Deere Operations Center or Trimble Ag Software can optimise planting schedules and spray rates, but the physical work of planting, spraying, and harvesting remains human- and machine-operated.

22

feeds and waters animals, takes responsibility for livestock health and welfare, treats minor ailments and calls vet if necessary

Human-Led

AI-powered sensors and wearables (e.g., Lely Qwes, SCR collars) can monitor animal health indicators, but hands-on feeding, welfare assessment, and treatment require physical presence and experienced judgment.

22

operates and maintains farm machinery such as combine harvesters, straw balers, milking machines and tractors

Human-Led

AI-assisted telematics and predictive maintenance tools (e.g., John Deere Machine Sync) can flag service needs and optimise routes, but operating and physically maintaining machinery requires skilled human operators.

11

undertakes farm maintenance tasks such as fencing, hedging, cleaning and building maintenance

Human-Led

AI has virtually no role in physical maintenance tasks like fencing and hedging; it might assist with scheduling or fault detection via smart sensors but cannot replace manual labour.

ROI Calculator

Farmers

9.6hrs
saved per week
462.9hrs
per year ≈ 12.3 weeks
£8,416
salary-equivalent capacity freed per year

This is not a pay rise — it's 462.9 hours of productive capacity that AI could return to you, valued at your current rate.

£14,026
value at risk — 43% of role exposed to AI

The portion of your current salary tied to tasks AI can automate or augment. Not a prediction of job loss — a signal of where your role is changing fastest.

How is this calculated?▾

Task weights — each task is weighted by its O*NET frequency rating. Where frequency data is absent, equal weighting is applied.

AI time reduction — tasks scored as "AI Automates" assume 80% time saving; "AI Assists" assumes 40%; "Human-Led" assumes 5%.

Salary equivalent — annual hours saved × (salary ÷ 1,800 working hours/year).

Value at risk — salary × share of role time in AI-automate or AI-assist tasks.

Figures are indicative estimates for planning purposes, not guarantees of productivity gain or job loss risk.