How to become Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product in 2024

Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product 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.

Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product is Also Know as

In different settings, Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product is titled as

  • Buyer
  • Grain Buyer
  • Grain Merchandiser
  • Grain Origination Specialist
  • Purchasing Agent
  • Tobacco Buyer

Education and Training of Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

Training Required for Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product in different industries are

What Do Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product do?

  • 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 processing or resale of purchased 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.
  • Examine or test crops or products to estimate their value, determine their grade, or locate any evidence of disease or insect damage.
  • Coordinate or direct activities of workers engaged in cutting, transporting, storing, or milling products and maintaining records.
  • Calculate applicable government grain quotas.
  • Sell supplies, such as seed, feed, fertilizers, or insecticides, arranging for loans or financing as necessary.
  • Estimate land production possibilities, surveying property and studying factors such as crop rotation history, soil fertility, or irrigation facilities.
  • Advise farm groups or growers on land preparation or livestock care techniques that will maximize the quantity and quality of production.

Qualities of Good Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.

Tools Used by Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

  • 10-key calculators
  • Bulk weighing systems
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital micrometers
  • Grain testers
  • Laptop computers
  • Livestock scales
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Personal computers
  • Precision rulers

Technology Skills required for Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Product

  • Amazon Web Services AWS software
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Customer relationship management CRM software
  • Deltek Costpoint
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP system
  • Google Angular
  • IBM Lotus Notes
  • Inventory management systems
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Word
  • Oracle Database
  • Product producer databases
  • Salesforce software
  • SAP software
  • Web browser software
  • Word processing software