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Managers · code 1311

Agricultural and forestry production managers

Agricultural and forestry production managers plan, direct and coordinate production in large-scale agricultural, horticultural and forestry operations such as plantations, large ranches, collective farms and agricultural cooperatives to grow and harvest crops, and breed and raise livestock. Tasks include - (a) monitoring agricultural and forestry market activity and planning production to meet contract requirements and market demand; (b) establishing and managing budgets, monitoring production output and costs, recording information such as farm management practices, and preparing financial and operational reports; (c) conferring with buyers to arrange for the sale of crops and livestock; (d) contracting with farmers or independent owners for production of crops and livestock, or for management of production; (e) planning the type, intensity and sequence of farm operations (e.g. determining the best times for planting, spraying and harvesting); (f) analysing soil to determine types and quantities of fertilizer required for maximum production; (g) purchasing machinery, equipment and supplies such as tractors, seed, fertilizer and chemicals; (h) identifying and controlling agricultural and forest environmental toxins, weeds, pests and diseases; (i) organizing farming operations such as maintaining buildings, water supply systems and equipment; (j) directing and coordinating activities such as planting, irrigation, chemical application, harvesting and grading; (k) inspecting plantations and fields to determine maturity dates of crops, or to estimate potential crop damage from weather; (l) overseeing the selection, training and performance of agricultural and forestry workers and contractors. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Forestry manager - Plantation manager - Ranch manager

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 211 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • forester

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

73
Holds up
against AI
Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 27 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 27 = 73

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

62.2
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

34.2
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 35.7 · hand skill 35.7 · cramped spaces 31.3 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4 Hands-on, less fiddly work

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 62.2 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 56.5, while the average is 27. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 56.5

    Establishing and managing budgets, monitoring production output and costs, recording information such as farm management practices, and preparing financial and operational reports

    Medium
  2. 42

    Monitoring agricultural and forestry market activity and planning production to meet contract requirements and market demand

    Low
  3. 39.5

    Planning the type, intensity and sequence of farm operations (e.g. determining the best times for planting, spraying and harvesting)

    Low
  4. 25.8

    Conferring with buyers to arrange for the sale of crops and livestock

    Low
  5. 25

    Analysing soil to determine types and quantities of fertilizer required for maximum production

    Low
  6. 24.9

    Inspecting plantations and fields to determine maturity dates of crops, or to estimate potential crop damage from weather

    Very Low
  7. 23.5

    Contracting with farmers or independent owners for production of crops and livestock, or for management of production

    Very Low
  8. 22.3

    Overseeing the selection, training and performance of agricultural and forestry workers and contractors.

    Very Low
  9. 18.8

    Identifying and controlling agricultural and forest environmental toxins, weeds, pests and diseases

    Very Low
  10. 18

    Purchasing machinery, equipment, and supplies such as tractors, seed, fertilizer, and chemicals

    Very Low
  11. 14

    Organizing farming operations such as maintaining buildings, water supply systems and equipment

    Very Low
  12. 13.5

    Directing and coordinating activities such as planting, irrigation, chemical application, harvesting, and grading

    Very Low

12 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
68.5
AI does it for you
38

Helping wins by 30.5 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 1213, 1215, 1216, 1217, 1335

Compared with similar jobs

There are 30 jobs in the “Managers” group, averaging 63.6. This one is above that.