Farming, Fishing, and Forestry · Holland code RC
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
Grade, sort, or classify unprocessed food and other agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition.
Also called: Apple Sorter, Grader, Potato Grader, Sorter, Agriculture Laborer, Corn Lab Technician, Distribution Technician, Egg Grader.
O*NET 45-2041.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $35,730
- Middle half earn $34,320 to $38,260. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma
- 64% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 2 of 5
- Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Place products in containers according to grade and mark grades on containers.
- Weigh products or estimate their weight, visually or by feel.
- Discard inferior or defective products or foreign matter, and place acceptable products in containers for further processing.
- Grade and sort products according to factors such as color, species, length, width, appearance, feel, smell, and quality to ensure correct processing and usage.
- Record grade or identification numbers on tags or on shipping, receiving, or sales sheets.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Monitoring2.9 / 5
- Active Listening2.8 / 5
- Speaking2.8 / 5
- Critical Thinking2.5 / 5
- Reading Comprehension2.3 / 5
- Writing2.3 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Production and Processing3.6 / 5
- English Language3.0 / 5
- Mechanical3.0 / 5
- Food Production2.8 / 5
- Education and Training2.7 / 5
- Foreign Language2.4 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic77
- Investigative25
- Artistic11
- Social8
- Enterprising19
- Conventional67
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- food safety inspector · DE Lebensmittelsicherheitsinspektor/Lebensmittelsicherheitsinspektorin · FR inspecteur en sécurité des aliments/inspectrice en sécurité des aliments
- agricultural inspector · DE Landwirtschaftskontrolleur/Landwirtschaftskontrolleurin · FR inspecteur du travail en agriculture/inspectrice du travail en agriculture
- raw material reception operator · DE Rohstoffannahmeleiter/Rohstoffannahmeleiterin · FR opérateur de réception des matières premières/opératrice de réception des matières premières
- farm milk controller · DE Milchkontrolleur/Milchkontrolleurin · FR contrôleur en production laitière
- food grader · DE Nahrungsmittelklassierer/Nahrungsmittelklassiererin · FR trieur contrôleur de produits alimentaires/trieuse contrôleuse de produits alimentaires
- leaf sorter · DE Blattsortierkraft · FR trieur de feuilles de tabac/trieuse de feuilles de tabac
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Routine inspectors and testers (8143)54,800 employed
- Weighers, graders and sorters (8144)7,800 employed
- Stock control clerks and assistants (4133)79,500 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Craft and related trades workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €40,086 |
| Germany | €38,638 |
| Austria | €38,194 |
| Sweden | €37,856 |
| Netherlands | €37,077 |
| Ireland | €36,098 |
| France | €27,145 |
| Italy | €26,488 |
| Spain | €22,817 |
| Portugal | €11,142 |
| Poland | €10,099 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -1.37. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (45-2041).
Related careers
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