Agricultural Inspectors
Inspect agricultural commodities, processing equipment, and facilities, and fish and logging operations, to ensure compliance with regulations and laws governing health, quality, and safety.
Most important skills
- Quality Control Analysis
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Speaking
- Active Learning
- Operations Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Law and Government
- Administrative
- Mathematics
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Inspect agricultural commodities or related operations, as well as fish or logging operations, for compliance with laws and regulations governing health, quality, and safety.
- Verify that transportation and handling procedures meet regulatory requirements.
- Collect samples from animals, plants, or products and route them to laboratories for microbiological assessment, ingredient verification, or other testing.
- Interpret and enforce government acts and regulations and explain required standards to agricultural workers.
- Write reports of findings and recommendations and advise farmers, growers, or processors of corrective action to be taken.
- Inspect the cleanliness and practices of establishment employees.
- Examine, weigh, and measure commodities, such as poultry, eggs, meat, or seafood to certify qualities, grades, and weights.
- Provide consultative services in areas such as equipment or product evaluation, plant construction or layout, or food safety systems.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (56.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (22.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (25.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Agricultural Inspectors is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 70% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 83% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 54% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 52% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 55% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 70% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 6.52%
- Contact with others about half the time: 1.43%
- Contact with others most of the time: 16.51%
- Constant contact with others: 75.55%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.21%
- Fairly important: 0.88%
- Important: 7.11%
- Very important: 25.56%
- Extremely important: 59.23%
n = 30, Incumbent 07/2013
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 11.29%
- Fairly important: 3.04%
- Important: 13%
- Very important: 23.33%
- Extremely important: 49.34%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.7%
- Very little freedom: 15.62%
- Limited freedom: 8.31%
- Some freedom: 8.36%
- A lot of freedom: 65.01%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Time pressure
- Never: 11.65%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.83%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.8%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.98%
- Every day: 52.73%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Conflict situations
- Never: 16%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 32.91%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.48%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.55%
- Every day: 11.07%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.3%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 28.48%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.72%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.54%
- Every day: 16.96%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2013
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 9.74%
- Fairly serious: 30.26%
- Serious: 15.59%
- Very serious: 27.91%
- Extremely serious: 16.5%
n = 30, Incumbent 07/2013
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O*NET-SOC 45-2011.00 · SOC 45-2011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8