Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products
In short: today's best AI models could do about 39% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 40% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 60% of the time, stays with people.
Purchase farm products either for further processing or resale. Includes tree farm contractors, grain brokers and market operators, grain buyers, and tobacco buyers. May negotiate contracts.
$77,710 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work16 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people24 h
Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 16 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 24 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Keep transaction and inventory records (about 7 h, a person checks); Buy farm products (about 4 h, a person checks); Review orders for quantities needed (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 25%
- 14%
- 41%
- 17%
- 2%
Anthropic's data does not cover this job.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 39% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 24%. Today's estimate: 39%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 9 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0047% to 0.0037% (released February and March 2025); 0.0032% to 0.0018% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0047% | 615 of 708 | 2 of 9 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0037% | 611 of 703 | 1 of 9 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0032% | 580 of 655 | 1 of 9 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.003% | 619 of 672 | 1 of 9 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0018% | 653 of 677 | 1 of 9 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 9 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 9 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 10% of this job's working time as physical work. For 9% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 9% in a structured facility. 0.18 of 3, the 459th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 90%
- No robot shown 1%
- In a structured facility 9%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
60% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Negotiate contracts with farmers, the conversation, 33%
- Buy farm products, the conversation, 14%
- Arrange processing or resale, the conversation, 6%
- Direct cutting, transport and milling crews, the in-person work, 4%
- Arrange transport and storage, the conversation, 2%
- Examine crops for grade and damage, the hands-on work, 1%
What becomes checking the machine
40% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Keep transaction and inventory records, costly if wrong, 17%
- Buy farm products, costly if wrong, 9%
- Review orders for quantities needed, costly if wrong, 6%
- Arrange processing or resale, costly if wrong, 4%
- Direct cutting, transport and milling crews, costly if wrong, 3%
- Arrange transport and storage, costly if wrong, 1%
What to learn
- The conversations. About 58% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Dealing with people outside the organization. Customers, patients, suppliers or the public: trust with them is built by a person.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 25% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Running AI inside the business systems. About 14% of the time is work inside business systems, which a model can do only once it is connected: knowing the systems well enough to set that up and watch it.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 9 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negotiate contracts with farmers for the production or purchase of farm products.Negotiation by phone and on the farm.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 33% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | Conversation 60%, in person 40% | Stays with people |
| Purchase, for further processing or for resale, farm products, such as milk, grains, or Christmas trees.Conversations with growers and sellers, with the deals worked out on paper.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 23% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Conversation 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Maintain records of business transactions and product inventories, reporting data to companies or government agencies as necessary.Entries in the transaction and stock records, with reports to agencies.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 17% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Systems 80%, documents 20% | 99%Half by now |
| Arrange for processing or resale of purchased products.Calls with processors and buyers, with the arrangements on paper.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Conversation 60%, documents 40% | 38%Desk part half by now |
| Coordinate or direct activities of workers engaged in cutting, transporting, storing, or milling products and maintaining records.Leading the crews on site, with the records and planning behind it.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | In person 60%, documents 40% | 38%Desk part half by now |
| Review orders to determine product types and quantities required to meet demand.Reading the orders to work out what and how much to buy.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Arrange for transportation or storage of purchased products.Calls to carriers and warehouses, with the bookings entered.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Conversation 60%, systems 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Estimate land production possibilities, surveying property and studying factors such as crop rotation history, soil fertility, or irrigation facilities.Studying rotation history, soil and irrigation, with the property surveyed on foot.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Documents 60%, hands-on 40% | 48%Desk part half by now |
| Examine or test crops or products to estimate their value, determine their grade, or locate any evidence of disease or insect damage.Looking over and testing the crop in the field or at the elevator.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, CHS Herman lights-out automated grain elevator (automated truck probe and grading system) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 1% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products60% now, 62% by 2028
- Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products65% now, 79% by 2028
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers36% now, 45% by 2028
- Purchasing Managers46% now, 77% by 2028
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products46% now, 47% by 2028
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents69% now, 73% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 39% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 40% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Keep transaction and inventory records (99% of the task's time now); Buy farm products (40% of the task's time now); and Review orders for quantities needed (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Negotiate contracts with farmers; and Examine crops for grade and damage. Together such tasks are about 34% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the conversations; reviewing work you did not do yourself; and dealing with people outside the organization. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 60% of the working time stays with people, 40% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 10% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 9% of the working time, 9% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.18 of 3. One example: CHS Herman lights-out automated grain elevator (automated truck probe and grading system) for "examine crops for grade and damage". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 9 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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