Harvesting
Farm Worker · Field Crop Farming
“Harvesting” (Farm Worker) is being replaced by AI: it entered in 2018 and is projected to be largely replaced by 2030.
AI enters
2018
Largely replaced
2030
Replacement progress
67%
Technology / key factor
Autonomous harvesters
What this task is
At harvest, farmers drive combines to cut wheat, rice or corn and coordinate grain carts shuttling back and forth. The window is short, so crews often work day and night.
How AI replaces it
From 2018, combines gained auto-guidance and yield monitoring, and driverless harvesters now work alongside autonomous grain carts. By around 2030, field-crop harvesting is expected to be largely driverless.
What stays human
Farmers decide when the crop is ready, coordinate machine fleets and maintain equipment, and still drive manually on slopes, small irregular plots or fields where the crop has badly lodged.
Other Field Crop Farming tasks
All Farm Worker tasks →Crop sprayingReplaced
2016 → 2024 · Spraying drones
Pest and disease identificationBeing replaced
2019 → 2027 · AI image recognition
Plowing and sowingBeing replaced
2015 → 2028 · GNSS-guided autonomous tractors
Farm management decisionsWill be replaced
2028 → 2038 · Agricultural AI models + remote sensing