Precision Agriculture Technicians: Salary, Job Description, How To Become One, and Quiz

Job description

Precision Agriculture Technicians apply geospatial technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS), to agricultural production or management activities, such as pest scouting, site-specific pesticide application, yield mapping, or variable-rate irrigation. May use computers to develop or analyze maps or remote sensing images to compare physical topography with data on soils, fertilizer, pests, or weather.

• Collect information about soil or field attributes, yield data, or field boundaries, using field data recorders and basic geographic information systems (GIS).
• Use geospatial technology to develop soil sampling grids or identify sampling sites for testing characteristics such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium content, pH, or micronutrients.
• Demonstrate the applications of geospatial technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), automatic tractor guidance systems, variable rate chemical input applicators, surveying equipment, or computer mapping software.
• Document and maintain records of precision agriculture information.

Salary

Precision Agriculture Technicians with little to no experience tend to make between $29830 and $37940 while the more experienced ones can earn over $63340 per year.

One of the easiest ways to increase your salary as a Precision Agriculture Technician is to move to a higher paying state like MD. Right now, the highest paying states for Precision Agriculture Technicians are MD, MA, CT, DC and NJ.

However, a higher pay at MD doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the living expenses at MD might be twice as high than where you are currently at now.

Three other factors that can increase your salary as a Precision Agriculture Technician is the degree you hold, the industry you work in, and lastly the company you work for.

Requirements

We asked other Precision Agriculture Technicians what degree they had when they got the job and most of them said they had a Bachelor’s Degree followed by an Associate’s Degree.

Other than that, we also asked them what did they major in and here are the most popular majors that came up.

Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of being a Precision Agriculture Technician.

What is the job like

69% of Precision Agriculture Technicians said they were satisfied with their job and 65% said they feel like their job is making other people’s lives better.

Is this right for me

You can read more about these career personality types here.

People who are suitable for this job tends to like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

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