Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products
Purchase farm products either for further processing or resale. Includes tree farm contractors, grain brokers and market operators, grain buyers, and tobacco buyers. May negotiate contracts.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Speaking
- Negotiation
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Food Production
- Sales and Marketing
- Economics and Accounting
- Transportation
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Purchase, for further processing or for resale, farm products, such as milk, grains, or Christmas trees.
- Negotiate contracts with farmers for the production or purchase of farm products.
- Arrange for transportation or storage of purchased products.
- Review orders to determine product types and quantities required to meet demand.
- Maintain records of business transactions and product inventories, reporting data to companies or government agencies as necessary.
- Coordinate or direct activities of workers engaged in cutting, transporting, storing, or milling products and maintaining records.
- Arrange for processing or resale of purchased products.
- Examine or test crops or products to estimate their value, determine their grade, or locate any evidence of disease or insect damage.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (82.1% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (36.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (43%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 13-1020 (aggregate); it may describe a broader group.
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 64% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 67% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 83% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 81% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 90% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 72% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 81% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very low
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: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Occasional contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others about half the time: 21.81%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.08%
- Constant contact with others: 78.11%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 37.55%
- Important: 0.99%
- Very important: 0.08%
- Extremely important: 61.38%
n = 12, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.05%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 37.52%
- Extremely important: 62.43%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0.05%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 22.85%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 21.86%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.61%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.33%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 39.7%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 21.81%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.28%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.46%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 40.69%
- Every day: 15.76%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 21.94%
- Fairly serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Serious: 0.67%
- Very serious: 22.88%
- Extremely serious: 2.19%
n = 13, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 13-1021.00 · SOC 13-1020 (aggregate, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8