Workforce & the New Ag Economy: The Jobs Growing Behind the Technology

Last Updated: November 10, 2026

This article is part of the RuralRISE Farming & Technology Series, a multi-part examination of how connectivity, data, and emerging technologies are reshaping agriculture and rural economies.

Every new tool on a farm brings new work with it: installation, calibration, interpretation, and training. Newer machines can deliver remarkable precision, but if something goes wrong, there has to be a person on the other end to diagnose the problem, make the adjustment, and get it running again.

This installment looks at who fills those roles, how rural communities are building the pipeline to train them, and what it takes to keep that work close to home.

Two people in plaid shirts and aprons stand with their backs to the camera at the edge of a cornfield. One holds a laptop under an arm and gestures toward the field.

Agriculture Still Runs on People

Agriculture still depends on a large hired workforce, so any discussion about new technology jobs starts with the existing ones.

According to USDA’s Farm Labor Survey, U.S. farm operators directly hired about 637,000 workers during a single week in April 2025. Seasonal demand continues to grow: the Department of Labor certified 398,258 H-2A positions in fiscal year 2025, the most in the program’s history. And the American Farm Bureau Federation reports that 182 of more than 415,000 advertised positions drew a domestic applicant in fiscal year 2025.

Planting, harvesting, feeding livestock, and keeping equipment running still take people, and many operations adopt technology as a way to extend the labor they have because they can’t find enough hands.

That technology adds a second layer of work on top of the first, and that layer is where many of the new careers in agriculture are taking shape.

Automation and the Changing Shape of Farm Work

Automation can reduce the labor a single task requires. What that means for an operation’s overall workforce depends on how much  time it frees up and how that time gets used. Part 5 of this series looked at how this plays out across operations of different sizes.

John Deere offers one example of how manufacturers frame it. The company unveiled the second generation of its autonomy kit at CES 2025. Its chief technology officer said customers have work that must get done at certain times of the year, “yet there is not enough available and skilled labor to do the work.”

The next question is what workers do once a machine takes over a task. Someone who once spent ten hours in a tractor cab might monitor several machines, troubleshoot systems, review field data, or take on other work. The role shifts from operator to technology-enabled operator, and in some cases to technician, analyst, or manager.

Human judgment stays central to all of it. A drone can capture imagery, but an agronomist knows what it means. A sensor can measure soil moisture, but someone still decides what to do about it. Technology provides information, but people are the ones providing judgment.

Someone Has to Fix the Machines

Autonomous and connected equipment still depends on people. Sensors drift out of calibration. Software needs updates. Cameras get dirty, connections drop, and hydraulics wear out.

That makes the agricultural equipment technician a central role in the new ag economy, and one that spans a wider skill set than it did a generation ago, from mechanical and hydraulic systems to electronics and software.

Manufacturers are investing in this pipeline through partnerships with technical colleges. For example, Case IH’s Top Tech program works with technical colleges across North America. At North Dakota State College of Science, students pair on-campus training with internships at sponsoring dealerships. And John Deere runs a similar dealer-sponsored model through its TECH program.

These partnerships matter for rural communities. They train students on the equipment their neighbors actually use, and they lead to skilled technical jobs at the local dealership.

Careers Beyond the Field

When a region has a concentration of technology-enabled farms, a supporting economy can develop around them. Equipment has to be installed and serviced, drones flown, data analyzed, networks maintained, and new hires trained.

Those careers range from precision ag technicians and data specialists to drone operators, farm technology managers, ag-tech trainers, and rural entrepreneurs building businesses that serve several farms at once.

This is an opportunity for rural economic development. Agriculture can anchor a broader technology and services economy, with skilled technical jobs at dealerships, co-ops, consulting firms, and local startups serving operations of every size.

Building the Pipeline: Classrooms, Apprenticeships, and FFA

The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted more than 1 million beginning farmers and nearly 300,000 producers under 35, alongside an average producer age of 58.1. The question for rural communities is how many entry points exist, including technical roles beyond traditional fieldwork.

Many rural communities already have institutions that serve as entry points. Community and technical colleges offer one route, with programs that combine agriculture, electronics, software, and data to match current equipment, like the manufacturer partnerships described above. 

Registered apprenticeships offer another, linking structured learning directly to a local job. The Department of Labor reports 4,688 registered apprentices served in agriculture in 2025, a 40 percent increase over five years. In April 2026, the department also launched a national initiative to build AI skills into apprenticeship programs. 

Rural workforce development faces different constraints than urban models. A Department of Labor research brief found that small rural employers often lack the staff and resources to run apprenticeship programs, and that long distances and transportation barriers make participation harder. Rural workforce systems sometimes address this through partnerships: the college provides the classroom, the dealer or farm provides work experience, extension brings agricultural expertise, and the workforce board helps with recruitment and funding.

FFA and 4-H reach young people early, and at scale. The National FFA Organization reports more than 1 million student members in 9,591 chapters for the 2025-2026 school year, and 4-H reaches about 6 million youth.

Technology can also change what farm work looks like to a young person. Roles that involve flying drones, running automated feeding systems, or reading sensor data offer a different entry point than the physical labor traditionally associated with the family farm. In 2025, Microsoft and FFA expanded FarmBeats for Students nationwide, putting sensor, data science, and AI kits in FFA classrooms at 185 middle and high schools. And in the National 4-H Council’s 2024 impact report, 70 percent of 4-H teens said they feel prepared to apply technical and life skills in their careers.

Each of those entry points also depends on a reliable connection. Connected machinery, remote diagnostics, cloud-based farm management, and online training all rely on broadband. A community can build the training program, a college can write the curriculum, and an employer can create the job. But if the farm can’t reliably connect, the opportunity stays out of reach. 

What’s Next (and What RuralRISE Is Watching)

Agriculture’s technology shift is creating work as well as changing it: technicians, analysts, drone operators, trainers, and the businesses that employ them. Where that work is based will depend on training pipelines, employer capacity, and the connectivity underneath both.

RuralRISE will keep watching how apprenticeship and AI-skills initiatives reach rural employers, how community colleges update ag-tech programs, and whether broadband investments reach these communities on a timeline that matches the workforce programs that depend on them.

The technology is already arriving on rural operations. Where the jobs around it are based is still being decided.

This article is part of the RuralRISE Farming & Technology Series, Dirt to Data:

Part 1: From Dirt to Data: How Connectivity Is Reshaping Farming in Rural America
Part 2: Precision Agriculture: The $18 Billion Opportunity Sitting in a Connectivity Gap
Part 3: AI in Rural Agriculture: What’s Available, What’s Missing, and What It Means
Part 4: Drones and Remote Sensing: A Rural Agriculture Tool With a Connectivity Catch
Part 5: Farm Equipment & Automation: Beyond the Self-Driving Tractor
Part 6: Workforce & the New Ag Economy: The Jobs Growing Behind the Technology (this post)
Part 7: The Digital Divide in Agriculture — coming soon

Sources

Figures may be updated as new research becomes available; readers are encouraged to consult the original sources directly for the most current information. References to organizations, companies, programs, or products are for informational purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by RuralRISE.