Skip to content
man bot

Technicians and associate professionals · code 3142

Agricultural technicians

Agricultural technicians perform tests and experiments, and provide technical and scientific support to agricultural scientists, farmers and farm managers. Tasks include - (a) preparing materials and equipment for experiments, tests and analyses; (b) collecting and preparing specimens such as soils, plant or animal cells, tissues or parts of animal organs for experiments, tests and analyses; (c) assisting with and performing experiments, tests and analyses applying methods and techniques such as microscopy, histochemistry, chromatography, electrophoresis and spectroscopy; (d) identifying pathogenic micro-organisms and insects, parasites, fungi and weeds harmful to crops and livestock, and assisting in devising methods of control; (e) analysing produce to set and maintain standards of quality; (f) conducting or supervising operational programmes such as fish hatchery, greenhouse and livestock production programmes; (g) analysing samples of seeds for quality, purity and germination rating; (h) collecting data and estimating quantities and costs of materials and labour required for projects; (i) organizing maintenance and repairs of research equipment. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Dairy technician - Field crop technician - Herd tester - Horticultural technician - Poultry technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Artificial inseminator - 3240 - Veterinary technician - 3240

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 204 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • agricultural technician

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

74.1
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 25.9 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 25.9 = 74.1

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

47.3
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

34.3
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 39.3 · hand skill 34.8 · cramped spaces 29.1 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

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

What this number leaves out This job rates 47.3 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

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 41.5, while the average is 25.9. 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. 41.5

    Collecting data and estimating quantities and costs of materials and labour required for projects

    Low
  2. 36.5

    Assisting with and performing experiments, tests and analyses applying methods and techniques such as microscopy, histochemistry, chromatography, electrophoresis and spectroscopy

    Low
  3. 33.5

    Analysing produce to set and maintain standards of quality

    Low
  4. 28.5

    Conducting or supervising operational programmes such as fish hatchery, greenhouse and livestock production programmes

    Low
  5. 23.5

    Analysing samples of seeds for quality, purity and germination rating

    Very Low
  6. 18.8

    Identifying pathogenic micro-organisms and insects, parasites, fungi and weeds harmful to crops and livestock, and assisting in devising methods of control

    Very Low
  7. 17.5

    Collecting and preparing specimens such as soils, plant or animal cells, tissues or parts or animal organs for experiments, tests and analyses

    Very Low
  8. 17.1

    Organizing maintenance and repairs of research equipment.

    Very Low
  9. 16.5

    Preparing materials and equipment for experiments, tests and analyses

    Very Low

9 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.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
72
AI does it for you
41

Helping wins by 31 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3111

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.3. This one is above that.