Facilities & Grounds · Updated Aug 2026

Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation

Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Usually requires specific training and state or federal certification.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
63/100
High

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
40/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence85/100
Task coverage91%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.High
68
Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.High
68
Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.High
68
Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.High
66
Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.High
68
Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.High
63
Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.High
68
Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.Medium
23
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.68
  2. Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.68
  3. Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.68
  4. Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.68
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.01
  2. Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.02
  3. Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.03
  4. Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.04
  5. Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

See all rankings →
AI risk 49

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Shares some work

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Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency73
Physical dependency72
Adoption pressure37
Labour-market resilience73
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence85/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →