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.

Kids Writing letters to Farmers while waiting for
Conference Judging.

This summer has been one wild adventure after another and it is obvious when you look at the different activities that have gone on during my experience with the Sangamon-Menard-Logan County 4-H Extension Office.

I began most of my experience in the office itself, answering phone calls and organizing along with ordering trophies and creating projects and helping with programs. In other words I have had a lot on my plate ever since I started my internship experience.

My first day arriving at my internship was a very warm welcome from the ladies in the office. In fact besides my boss I'm the only other male in the whole extension office. The first day they held a sort of potluck, where we took time to get to know one another and learn more about each others experiences.

Creating Beanie Babies for the kids to learn
about agriculture and take home.

My first show was at the Sangamon County Fairgrounds located in New Berlin IL. Before the show I was in charge of making sure we had all the trophy's ordered and that we also had all of our judges and superintendents ready to go. This show was the busiest that I had been throughout my whole internship experience. I even set aside my own projects for the kids to do while they waited for their conference judging.

I made signs and worked with my supervisor Sharron and Amy to make sure that everything was ready and set up for the few days to come. It was difficult to stay this organized having things in two places and over 5 projects that needed to be completed at once. But as you might have guessed, I pulled it off.

My two biggest fans who's mom said I should
"Get and A for my internship" ;)

My projects ranged from an Ag trivia game where we competed for prizes to the Thank a Farmer activity. The kids also played board games, drew pictures, created beanie babies, and played a Ag relay race game which involved a lot of opinions and posed some good, interesting questions.

So far my experience at the Sangamon County Extensions Office has been fun and exciting, and although this experience has made me more open to job experiences I still believe that I will pursue the career of a high school agriculture teacher.

4-H Health Jam

Working with the University of Illinois Extension Rock Island County has been an awesome experience so far. Not to long ago we had an event called Health Jam at the Putnam Museum. We had about 10 days to plan it all after a sudden change happened. There was about 150 5th and 6th graders who attended Health Jam. There was five different stations that the students attended during the morning. Two of the stations took place in an Exhibit called Bodies Revealed. Bodies Revealed is a traveling exhibit that has been all over the world. It takes visitors up close through galleries providing an up-close look inside the skeletal, muscular, reproductive, respiratory, circulatory and other systems of the human body. It was the most awesome exhibit that I have ever been in. Since the youth may not understand it as well, we had a student from Palmer College of Chiropractic come in and explain everything to the children and us too! It was quite the learning experience. We also had several volunteers throughout the exhibit. I was in charge of the Polymers session.

Teaching about Polymers

There, I talked about many different polymers such as what is inside a baby diaper.We did an experiment with water gel to show how a diaper absorbs water very quickly. The youth thought that was the craziest thing ever. We also made bouncy balls in the microwave to show how it turns into plastic because plastic is a polymer. The bouncy balls may not have bounced as well as a real one but it was really cool to be able to make one still just out of corn oil, cornstarch, and water. For another session, we had a dietitian from Hy-Vee come in and talk to the youth about nutrition and how much sugar is actually in their sodas. From what I heard, some of the youth said they were going to cut back on how much soda they drank.

For the last session, we had the Dean of Allied Health from Black Hawk College come in and talk to the youth about different careers in the health field. She demonstrated how to give blood on a fake arm and demonstrated many other cool things. To wrap up the day, we let the the youth have fun in all the other exhibits in the museum. While they looked at all the other awesome exhibits, we had them do a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. Then, we would have a video camera and ask them a question like, "Why is the Mississippi River important to us?"We wanted it all to relate back to health.

Dietitian from Hy-Vee talking to youth about MyPlate

After this day, the rest of the summer we have follow up sessions once a week.The youth have learned about cooking, stretching, bicycle safety, and many other things during these sessions.They each were given a pedometer also. Our goal for the end of the summer is to walk across Illinois. If they take 10,000 steps everyday, they will reach their goal. So far this summer, health jam is something I really look forward to every week. It is a lot of fun and the kids are so much fun to be around!

Making his Bouncy Ball

Dean of Allied Health giving demonstration

Team Soybean

I’m halfway through my internship at Precision Soya in Farmer City, IL and it has been a wild ride so far! At the end of May, twelve Corn and Soybean Field Service Interns began internships during planting, one of the craziest times of the crop season. Being involved in the whirlwind of activity made our days fast-paced and full of new experiences. As a soybean field service intern, I have been preparing paperwork and locating fields with Precision Soya beans in them. These fields will be my responsibility when inspection time comes around! I’ve also spent a lot of time contacting growers and getting to know them through the company.

This summer has been flying by. It has been a challenge starting my internship with zero to little prior experience in the field, but my supervisor has been very supportive and assures me that it goes in my favor that I don’t have any bad habits to break. From the beginning, interns at Precision Soya have been welcomed warmly. The first few weeks began with tours of the plant and warehouse and explanations on the processes that occur within a year. Right away we started going out to fields and inspecting for replant, chemical burn, or in some cases, hail damage. This included a lot of travel time and driving, but it gave me a good idea of the area and where I would be travelling this summer. Between the office, lab, warehouse, and soybean field, I haven’t spent a lot of time in just one place this summer. In the office, the interns have been working on compiling grower information to keep and use repeatedly in the future. In the lab, I have organized and taken inventory on different samples of varieties grown. I also picked up a few things working in the warehouse, like the kind of detailed paperwork necessary to keep track of millions of beans coming into and leaving the plant.

This week, soybean interns are finishing up collecting information from the numerous growers we are responsible for and collaborating all the information into a master system so that the same information can be used every year. We are asking for information on anything and everything, from the sizes and locations of their fields to the names of their farmhands and wives.  Knowing more about the grower and his lifestyle makes it easier to communicate and relate with them. When we finish up the week we will have started flowering inspections too!

I’m really looking forward to the rest of this summer and what is left of this internship. Flowering and mapping inspections will be a new and exciting thing to start and I expect to learn quite a bit from my numerous soybean fields! 

Soaked in info and cooked in the fire.

         Howdy, my name is Clayton Carley and I am currently interning with Eurofins Agroscience Services Inc located near Monticello Illinois.  Eurofins is a third party independant research company that conducts research on most often unlabeled products and new GMO crops.  We test products so that they can receive their EPA labeling as well as determine the many effects of products on the environment, and other crops. Often many interns are given a few tasks or jobs and one or two projects to complete thorough out their learning experience. Just as our season began with seemingly rain every other day soaking all of our projects, so I have been soaked with new information and skills. At Eurofins I have learned something new and done a new task almost every day and completed numerous different projects. One day I could be mixing new herbicides that wont be on the market for several more years, or testing products on the newest GMO crops being produced to hoeing weeds so that our test crops stay healthy before the research is conducted.  I have quite possibly one of the best bosses ever and I have been able to learn much from him about the research industry as well as personnel management and development. 

                         One day I could be mixing new herbicides that wont be on the market for several more years, or testing products on the newest GMO crops being produced to hoeing weeds so that our test crops stay healthy before the research is conducted.  I have also been able to take data on plots as the crops grow and we test new products on them.  Harvesting crops in order to obtain more data is also very important.  One of the greatest responsibilities and tasks that I have learned is how to conducted GLP research, or Good Laboratory Practices Research. There is a lot of paperwork that must be completed for GLP research and it is necessary in order to ensure that we conduct the best possible research.  It also requires many different procedures for working with crops and products.  Accuracy and good record keeping is a must. Just as the weather is now turning hot making us change some of our trials and adapt procedures so have I learned how to change and adapt my skills so that I can best benefit everyone at my internship site.  I have been thrown from the frying pan into the fire taking on new tasks and given new challenges, I really enjoy working with Eurofins and would seriously consider a career here. 

The past couple of months have been challenging, yet rewarding! I am currently employed by AIRS INC, which is a private agricultural crops consulting program. I am new to the crop scouting/crop sciences field so this summer has given me a lot of knowledge. Either talking to farming clients, identifying insects, diseases, or taking plant populations, I have been able to use this knowledge through out the summer and take a leadership role within my internship. I am allowed to set my own hours this summer, and to get 400 of them it takes a lot of time and self discipline to be able to complete my weekly tasks and fulfill my duty as a crop scout.

University of Illinois Extension Cook County

Interning at University of Illinois Extension in Cook County has been an adventure so far and is one of the best jobs I have had.  There are two parts to my job, which are being in the office and being out in the field at different events.  When I first spoke with Mrs. Buffett the County Director she asked me if I had a car and now I see why.  I am always at different events and there is a lot of traveling to different areas in Cook County, but I don't mind it at all because I feel like an adult that has a career traveling the world in a way.  So far I have been to Lemont, Westchester, Chicago, and Harvey just to name a few places.   

I have been in charge of taking the University of Illinois non-discrimination forms compiling this information in an excel document and  after I compile this information I have to find the commissioner and the state representative, so we can bring this information to meetings with these people to show that we are out in their communities.  I also will have to meet Federal, State, and Local representatives in the near future.  Mrs. Buffet wants to make sure I do as much networking as I can.  I have reviewed the financial aspects of Extension and learned about their funding and who is in charge of the different aspects of Extension.  I was also in charge of working on researching information on S.T.E.M so we can put a report together.  I also was asked to help with the Extension Counsil Meeting, which we held in the conference room of the office I am housed at.

Another project that I will soon begin working on will be health rocks, which is a program designed where teens teach the youth about drug and alcohol abuse in different communities.  Since this is a grant we have to have to reach 3000 youth by summer of next year!  So I have been trying to give out places where we can hold Health Rocks so we can teach a good number of youth.  I am not exactly sure of all my duties with this so far but I will know more in the future.

Above is another project I have been working on.  These are Extensions marketing folders and these pamphlets provide information about the different areas of Extension.  My part is to learn and study these pamphlets and to put the folders together so that we are able to hand these out in the different communities we go out into.  I will and should know the mission, vision, and values of Extension by the time I am finished with my internship.  I am now looking into Extension and a possible career choice in the near future.  I hope all of the interns are learning and having as much fun as I am!