Some Food For Thought...

Hello everybody, my name is Jacob Dickey and I am a Junior in Agricultural Sciences Education.  This summer I had the chance to jump the Ag Ed ship and join the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition as the Marketing and Communications Director.  My job duties include promoting the department through social media, publications, mass media and more, working at Bevier Cafe to increase customers and sales, put on workshops/dinner events, work with alumni extensions and that famous phrase, "other duties as assigned."

I really had no clue what I was getting myself into with this internship; I thought most of the work I did would be simply focused in Marketing and Communications.  In reality, I've found myself diving deep into the world of food processing/science and learning about what actually happens between the time when farmers dump their grain at the elevators and I grab my favorite Keebler Cookies at the Grocery Store.

My desk; today it's covered in post it notes and reminders.

While I mostly work out of a desk that is atypical of an office desk found in any company all across America, I've found myself going out to find information, inquire with people, put on events, etc., more often than not.   The combination of desk experiences and getting out and meeting people, seeing things and more has really provided me with an awesome opportunity, and I'm so glad I got the chance to work with FSHN this summer.

Here's three of my favorite things I've gotten to do this summer;

Students Training in Bevier Cafe before Opening Day

Bevier Cafe; For those of you who don't know about Bevier Cafe, it is a student staffed and operated restaurant in Bevier Hall that acts as a learning laboratory for students in the department, providing them with real life experiences.  On top of that, the food is excellent and well worth the trip to campus.  While I don't get to play with food, my duties have been more on the customer service/support side of things.  

An interview with WDWS about Bevier Cafe and FSHN

This summer, I got to develop a marketing plan for both mass communications and social media and implement it with the goal to increase customers and sales.  I've also got to work behind the scenes and share what goes on in the kitchen.  Some of the results noted by the professors who manage the Cafe is that within the first week alone compared to last summer, customers were up over 17% and each customer was spending over 20% more than before.  I find it particularly cool when I can implement a process and see the overall results both in person and on paper.

Processing At Illinois; Before I got involved with FSHN, I was relatively unaware about the process that occurs to make the foods we all find at the grocery store.  And, I was completely unaware of a small but growing learning laboratory being developed called Processing At Illinois.  Processing At Illinois is a renewed effort from congregation of facilities on campus that turn raw materials into the food, fiber and fuel we use everyday.  The different facilities include the Meat Processing Laboratory (Animal Sciences), the National Soybean Research Laboratory, the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER), Food Processing at Agricultural and Biological Engineering and the Food Science and Human Nutrition Pilot Research Plant. 

The FSHN Processing Plant has the capacity of a small food
processing facility, and is able to complete research on
food processing, production and sustainability.

Overall, Processing at Illinois facilities are simply small scale production facilities that can do all sorts of cool processes to raw materials.  From the butchering, packaging and distribution of meat to the development of disease-resistant seeds and plants, and from the conversion of grains into fuels to the processing of raw materials into beverages and foods, Processing at Illinois is a unique group of facilities that offer advanced research in food fiber and fuel to the agricultural community.

Processing at Illinois Open House

My job in Processing at Illinois has been developing literature, promoting the group and organizing/putting on an open-house for the Dean of the College of ACES.  Even so, I've learned a great deal through research and hands-on experiences about how food actually comes to be, and it is one of the more 'mind-blowing' parts of agriculture in my opinion.  I'll be doing a lot more work with FSHN and Processing at Illinois with the Farm Progress Show in the future, and I can't wait to be a part of that.

Food Show at IFT Annual Meeting

If unusual icing flavors are your cup of tea,
then this is the place for you!

Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting; The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is an international, non-profit professional organization for the advancement of food science and technology.  The group consists of businesses and organizations that research and develop ingredients that are in our foods everyday.  Rather than consisting of major companies that we all recognize including Coca-Cola, Pepperidge Farms and Frito Lays, these are companies including Sensient Technologies, Hormel and ABC Research.  These companies do anything from creating food dyes and coloring, inventing new flavors and tastes and producing dried ingredients that can be used by food production companies.  This year, the annual meeting was located at McCormick Place in Chicago.

For this, I was responsible for putting on an alumni reception at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, organizing a tour of the Food Show for the UIUC Research Apprentice Program (RAP), organizing poster sessions for graduate students and create materials to share at the annual meeting.  On top of that, I got the chance to venture around myself and try some unusual foods, flavors and more at the Food Show that companies were 'testing' before they become available to the general public.

How can I apply what I've learned in my internship to my future career goals?  Undoubtedly, advocating for the Food Processing industry and informing consumers is something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.  Many of us are aware of the attacks and misconceptions groups are spewing about agriculture, and I personally believe that a more informed consumer is the best way to fight the good fight.  It's important as a future Ag Educator that I can provide factual information with anyone I interact with in the future, whether it be students, consumers, business groups or more.  This internship has already taught me more than I could ever imagine and I'm grateful for the opportunities I've been given.  I've found that I've personally grown as an individual through not only through the basic tasks any intern might be assigned, but also through actually getting out and seeing what is going on behind the scenes in agriculture.

How have you grown this summer?  Have you learned anything about agriculture you didn't know?  Sometimes, you can learn the most by simply planting a garden, going to a local farmers market or getting out and talking with a farmer.  But, it's not always about growing as an individual.  It's also designed to grow agriculture in order to fulfill the demand for the food, fiber and fuel the world craves; and food science is definitely doing its part.