Job Check
Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation
Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Usually requires specific training and state or federal certification.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.Mostly human for now
- 02Record information about pesticide applications, such as the type used and amount applied.No rating yet
- 03Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.Mostly human for now
- 04Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.Mostly human for now
- 05Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.Mostly human for now
- 06Establish driving routes for pesticide applications.No rating yet
- 07Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 08Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.Mostly human for now
- 09Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.Mostly human for now
- 10Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
6%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 23% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 98% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
- Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
- Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.