Tomorrow is set for our first harvest and these past three weeks have been filled with preparations. I have been communicating with the Central Illinois Foodbank to organize our donation. We met last week so that they could come by and see our farm and we could best determine how they can get the corn back to their warehouse. Both sides left the meeting with a clear understanding of what needed to be done. I have really enjoyed this new aspect of my job. Planning how the donation will work out and communicating with the Foodbank for the foundation has been interesting and I have learned a lot already and we have not even started to harvest.


Yesterday we tried out our picker and wagon contraption to see how it works. There are still a few glitches that we will address and try to troubleshoot during harvest, but the device did a pretty good job and the corn goes up the conveyor belt straight into the crates that we built. There is a lot of sweet corn to be harvested tomorrow and it will feed a lot of mouths. I am glad to finally begin harvesting because we have been preparing and discussing how it will all work out for so long that it will be nice to finally put our plan to the test. 


It is hard to believe that it is already July, though this heat is a clear indication that we are in the middle of the summer. The sweet corn that was planted after I got here is really hurting from this drought and if it continues any longer, there is not likely to be any sweet corn donated to the Foodbank late in the summer but we will see. 

Getting ready for harvest tomorrow, hope it runs smoothly and the corn gets to the people who need it.

Sweet corn a week from being harvested on the plant.

Ears of sweet corn showing signs of the drought - some of the kernels have not filled.

Sweet corn harvester attached to tractor with wagon and crates on the back

Hello everyone!

I have been extremely busy down here in Carlyle, IL so far this summer.  Currently I am up to my knees in new projects and data analysis.  My summer has been full of new learning experiences.  The Maschhoffs L.L.C. has created an internship program specifically designed for professional development by challenging me through rapid change and giving me the freedom to interact with other company executives outside of my department.  The photo above is a picture taken outside of the SPAM Hall of Fame located in Austin, MN.  The young lady in the picture was our volunteer for the trip that we were very thankful to have!  I was in Austin for a week working on a carcass quality study at a packing plant.  If any of you have the opportunity to branch out and get experiences in other sectors of the company you are with I highly recommend it. 

Take care guys

Hello!

http://www.agcareers.com/newsletters/agcareers_weekly.htm

     Listed above is the link to the newsletter in which my article was featured. This is one of the many duties associated with my internship. I have been very busy though with working on the 2012 Internship Benchmark Survey Part 1: Analysis Survey. I take the survey results from all of the interns of nine different agricultural companies and compile a report in which the HR department can dissect and determine how to refine their program, who to look for in future applicants, as well as see areas that are great and areas that could use improvement in their internship program as a whole. This is a really great eye-opening project and also very useful for our clients. I have really enjoyed reading and reporting on internships available in the agricultural industry. Also, we are preparing for the big event in August for the Human Resources Roundtable in Arkansas. This process has been rather low key since Marketing Manager, Erika Osmundson, has been in China and Australia over the past two weeks. However, we look forward to her homecoming and continued preparation for the event.

     Outside of work I have been having an interesting time working around not having a vehicle to drive and exploring the city of Ames. I have become an annoying college-town biker. This experience is very fun at times and others down right awful. My phone has fallen out of my pocket numerous times requiring me to awkwardly loop around the street and swoop it up without falling. This is not easy. Also, I had to bike home in the pouring rain the other day. I didn't even make it back to the hotel before I had to stop and take a break at a close apartment complex. The stop helped me to regain sight, and loose a few pounds of from the soaking wet jacket and laptop back. On the brighter side, I have ridden down some beautiful biking tails and visited downtown to see a little more of the new city. There are some really nice locally owned restaurants and cafes that I go to as often as I can. I look forward to skydiving and golfing this weekend and also getting my car back!

      Hello again! Today was a busy and fun-filled day for us with AgCareers.com. We took the majority of the day to go down to Des Moines, Iowa and walk around the 2012 World Pork Exposition. This was a first-time experience for me and fellow marketing associate Bonnie Johnson. Supervisor, Erika Osmundson, took us down to the Iowa State Fairgrounds where it was hosted to talk with clients as well as friends of the industry. We were able to see most of the indoor exposition exhibits, a few of the sow shows hosted by the National Pork Producers Council, and eat a pulled pork sandwich for lunch. It was a also really neat to see our sister company, Pig Champ (partially owned by Farms.com as well), display and inform many of their customers about some of the new software available. It was a great day to see a major trade show within the agriculture industry and share some laughs along the way!

   



Pictured to the left: myself, Erika, and Bonnie on the right; pictured below: the aisle that Pig Champ and the AgCareers.com banner was assigned.

          I am starting my third week here with AgCareers.com in the Farms.com branch office out of Ames, IA on the campus of Iowa State Univeristy in Research Park. I have been exposed to a number of initiatives within the company, as well as contributed personal input on the status of my current and ongoing projects at a recent staff meetingreporting directly to the President of AgCareers.com. Looking closer in to my daily work, after finishing training I was able to really nail down on some of the projects assigned. I have since completed a Competitive Pricing Analysis for our company to benchmark our standards against that of our competitors of major job boards as well as similar niche job boards. I also am currently writing and have writen articles to be featured in our e-newletter delivered via email across North America to our subscribers. In addition, I reached out and individually called all of the past attendees of the 2011 North American Ag HR Roundtable (an anual event AgCareers.com hosts to promote further education and resources to Ag-based HR associates across North America) to remind them of the upcoming deadline for earlybird registration for the 2012 North American Food and Ag HR Roundtable and offer support in any concers or questions they may have. I am also in the beginning stages compling data to report in the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Enrollment and Employment Outlook that AgCareers.com developed and reports on the status of enrollment and employment of our postsecondary agriculture students. Clearly I have been kept busy and can't wait to take advantage of further experiences that will be presented throughout the summer.

     Tomorrow I will be touring a couple hog farms in the central Iowa area. I can't wait to check out the similarities and differences of what we have in central Illinois!

Pictured below is my supervisor, Erika Osmundson, myself, and Bonnie Johnson.

-Mark McKown

I went and visited Ted Maddox of Warrensburg,
IL last week. Ted has 80 acres od sweet corn that he contract sells to over 74 WalMarts, County Markets, and Kroger stores. He is a local producer that has hit it "big" in the local foods and small farms group.  The picture to the left is of his trailer he uses to deliver all of his sweet corn produce. In the picture to the right, he is explaing the twine system his son did to keepthe tomato plants off the ground.  Aside from the 80 acres of sweet corn, Ted is trying his way through growing a variety of other vegetables like tomatos, onions and peppers.
                                                            (CW 6/4/12)