Soil and Plant Scientists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 5% 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 23% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 73% of the time, stays with people.
Conduct research in breeding, physiology, production, yield, and management of crops and agricultural plants or trees, shrubs, and nursery stock, their growth in soils, and control of pests; or study the chemical, physical, biological, and mineralogical composition of soils as they relate to plant or crop growth. May classify and map soils and investigate effects of alternative practices on soil and crop productivity.
15,730 people do this job in the US. $78,850 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet9 h
- Stays with people29 h
Soil and Plant Scientists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 9 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 29 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops (under an hour); Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion (under an hour); Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation (under an hour).
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.
- 27%
- 1%
- 72%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
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.
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, 1%. Today's estimate: 6%.
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 27 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.13% to 0.14% (released February and March 2025); 0.1% to 0.09% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.13% | 139 of 708 | 5 of 27 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.14% | 121 of 703 | 6 of 27 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.1% | 154 of 655 | 5 of 27 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.073% | 193 of 672 | 5 of 27 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.09% | 175 of 677 | 5 of 27 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
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 31% of this job's working time as physical work. For 14% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 14% in a purpose-built cell. 0.14 of 3, the 487th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 69%
- No robot shown 17%
- In a purpose-built cell 14%
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.8 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days2.1 work days to 3.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Study ways to improve agricultural sustainability, such as the use of new methods of composting.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.4 work weeks6.7 h to 1.3 work months | 2%Half by Jan 2029 | |
| Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 1.9 work months | Stays with people | |
| Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.6 work months | Stays with people | |
| Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 work weeks2.5 work days to 3.2 work months | Stays with people | |
| Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 work weeks2.5 work days to 3.2 work months | Stays with people | |
| Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 3.5 work weeks4.2 work days to 2.4 work months | Stays with people | |
| Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, LemnaTec Conveyor Scanalyzer (PhenoAIxpert HT) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 3.5 work weeks2.5 work days to 1.9 work months | Stays with people | |
| Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Rogo SmartCore autonomous soil sampler (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 3.5 work weeks4.2 work days to 2.4 work months | Stays with people | |
| Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.3 work weeks | 18%Half by Jul 2027 | |
| Develop ways of altering soils to suit different types of plants.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 |
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.
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.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Soil and Plant Scientists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 6% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 23% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (16% to 26% across the three paces the site shows). 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 Soil and Plant Scientists 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: Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops (71% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion (96% of the task's time now); and Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation (18% of the task's time now, 97% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Soil and Plant Scientists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties; Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity; and Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology. Together such tasks are about 73% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Soil and Plant Scientists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 5%. 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 Soil and Plant Scientists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 31% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 14% of the working time. Its index is 0.14 of 3. One example: LemnaTec Conveyor Scanalyzer (PhenoAIxpert HT) for "conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment". 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 27 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, 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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