Fields of the Future

Thursday, August 29, 2019

GROWMARK

When I began my internship this summer, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. I had a vague idea of what my intership was going to involve, but I still wasn't sure of any specific tasks or experiences I might have. I had the opportunity to serve as the GROWMARK Agronomy Intern for M&M Service Company this summer, which is right around my area. I was fully prepared to be involved in helping with spraying, planting, and whatever else they asked of me. But when I went to my Orientation meeting for the interns in Bloomington, my expectations shifted. GROWMARK is so diverse in its business that it seemed like every intern would be doing something different for their respective member companies. Some interns were doing some regular crop scouting, while others

would be working with new technology, implementing new practices, and conducting special projects for each member company. 

When I started my first day at M&M, my supervisor took me to each location in our area, showing me their purpose and what they did on a regular basis. He then gave me my mission for the summer: IntelinAir. IntelinAir is a company that was recently licensed by GROWMARK, and its main purpose is to use aerial pictures of fields taken from manned aircraft and using them to more efficiently and quickly spot and scout fields. My main mission was to use the technology, get some data from ground truthing the fields, and reporting it back to the salesmen, who would in turn show and teach their growers about the technology. This was a shock to me, because I had never used any sort of technology like this. It was so new that even my coworkers and superiors weren't entirely sure how it worked. So it took some time, but with enough playing with the app and trying things, I was able to figure it out. 

But then the weather interfered. As many who are reading this may be well aware, the planting season of 2019 was incredibly difficult. Rain relentlessly pounded the soil and prevented farmers from even getting into the field. Because of this, all of the crops fell behind in maturity, and there was nothing to do with my project for the beginning of the summer. Because of this, I was instructed to go to a different location each week and help however I could, as well as learn as much as I could in the process.

So I bounced around from one location to the next, learning the operations of Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Seed throughout the company. I also got to help with the planting and maintenance of the variety test plots throughout the company. There was quite a bit that I got to do, and it was really cool getting to meet all of the employees along the way. 

Eventually, the crops started growing and I was able to start focusing on my project. This was challenging at the beginning, because in the early developmental stages of the crops, it was hard to find readings of the specific filters on the app to identify which fields to scout. There was no way of telling if the effects on a field were merely from stress from the rain, or just needing time. So, I went to a variety of fields trying to find results, and as time went on there seemed to be more problems popping up on the app. So, for the next several weeks I spent my time scouting fields, analyzing the app, and reporting my findings to the salesmen. In this time period, I learned more about ag tech then I had in any of my previous internships.

This past summer was one of the strangest adventures of my life, but it was also an incredible experience. I got to learn all about the retail and industrial side of agriculture, whereas I had only know the production side previously. I also have a better understanding and appreciation for where ag tech is headed, as well as an interest in possibly working more with it in the future. I had a great experience learning from my supervisor and coworkers, and I hope that I was able to put my foot in the door for potential future employment.

Up, Up, and Away!

We have all heard “don’t judge a book by its cover” and the more we all grow up, that phrase seems to work with a lot of other situations that don’t pertain to books. This summer internship was one for me! No, I am not saying that I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy this internship, I truly didn’t know what I was getting my hands on. 

This summer I had the opportunity to work with AirScout post-flight image surveying for field images. In layman’s terms, our company’s pilots take pictures of our client’s fields (farmers), then a team of “processors” assess the best image of the field, and finally, through GoogleMaps application, we match our images to GoogleMaps to then send to our farmers. In AirScout terms, “imagery of crops collected via fixed-wing manned aircraft to build precision prescription zones and strategic scouting plans to maximize return on precision ag equipment.” (About AirScout) 

Where do I stand with this company? I am part of their processing team! The team of processors is a group of five people that does the ground-work of the pictures that are taken by our team of pilots.  

When starting this job, I was told by my supervisors that I could have the opportunity to actually go up with one of our pilots for the day. Monday, today, was that day and let me tell you, what a cool experience! My pilot for the day was, in fact, one of my best friends, Chloe, which only made today’s participation even better. Chloe has been going to school to be a pilot and flying for the last three years, so with that being said, she completely wowed me when she showed me all the controls and her knowledge behind them. We went through routine pre-flight procedures before we took off, and even that involvement was mind-boggling! Seeing what I would be seeing in picture-form on my laptop translated to life-size form and also 5,500 feet in the air was what made the entire experience more of a learning tool for future processing projects! The view was also pretty awesome too! We stayed close to Illinois for today’s surveying where all of the fields were either growing corn or beans. We were in the air for five hours and stopped to refuel the plane once. After finishing our route and gathering all the images we needed, we landed and finished the flight with a post-flight procedure. 

The Gateway Arch- St. Louis

Small storm 20 miles out.

For future endeavors with AirScout, I will be continuing to work on their processing team during this harvest season, then again in for next year’s planting, growing, and harvest season. By next year, I hope to be in the position to create an informational “manual” on how AirScout surveys their fields and the type of precision agriculture you’re working with when it comes to field survey. When getting hired, this was a side of the job prospect that was explained that I might be able to endure. I look forward to continuing my work with AirScout so that I can get to that level of knowledge to be able to write this manual and to be able to put my name on it! Leaving that legacy would top off my internship experience with AirScout more than it already going into the air today already did! 

Many States, Many Kids

Before this summer, I had rarely left the Midwest. But as I was looking around at possible internships this past Spring, I learned about an internship with a company called We Are Camps. This company provides many different summer camps for kids primarily age 9 and older. The specific camps I signed up to do was a sports camp program that took place at Air Force Bases all over the continental United States, far out of my usual area of work.

Right after school ended in mid-May, all coaches for the program including me got together in Champaign Illinois (where our supervisor lives) to have a week of training. This training was to teach us about the rules of the sports, how to teach them with various lessons and activities and how to keep the kids involved. The reason we had to learn how to do the sports is because the sports that we were going to teach each day of the week were sports that are not considered 'traditional' American sports. These sports were: lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, handball, badminton, fencing and shallow-end water polo.

Once the program started I was paired up with another coach and we took off together with a rented truck and trailer filled with the necessary equipment for the sports we were teaching. All through the summer we would spend a week at one base, teach a new sport to the on-base kids each day and then at the end of the week, we would pack up and move on to the next base. Our first camp started on June 10 in Salt Lake City, and our last camp ended on August 16 near Columbia MO.

At first, I had strong doubts about my ability to be a good coach and I'll admit the first couple weeks were a little rough because this was a type of teaching/instruction that I had never done before, and I often struggled with pacing, volume of voice and speaking in terms that younger kids could understand. But as the summer progressed, our lessons greatly improved and my partner and I got into a good rhythm of coaching.

Along with the equipment, we brought a binder with a script that showed us the order of lesson points and activities to do each day to ensure that the kids were learning. My project for the summer was to develop a script for the sport of field hockey which is a sport our supervisor has wanted to add to the program. As I was putting it together, I was considering what I was learning throughout the summer such as methods to keeps kids paying attention and how to ensure that they were enjoying the sport. Once I finished the script I was given the chance to practice it with one of the group of kids we were teaching, and it went rather well (with room for improvement).

What I learned over the summer and with this project is that teaching or coaching younger kids is a challenging but often rewarding experience that requires many things such as patience and understanding. You have to realize that some kids are more than willing to put in the effort while others may not do the same. You also have to remember that you show the kids in your instruction that you are enjoying being their coach, because if they get the impression that you are not enjoying being with them, they notice.

This past summer was an amazing adventure. From coaching kids of all kinds from all parts of the country, I learned many things about myself and accomplished things I didn't realize I was capable of. My time as a coach for these military kids is definitely an experience that I will never forget.

Rise Up To New Opportunities

Sometimes when one door closes, another one opens to a new opportunity.  I was originally going to work for Earlybird Feed and Nutrition, but things changed at the last minute.  April came around and I was without a summer internship.  Through local connections, I learned that a Pontiac car dealership was looking for a summer intern to help in the Parts Department.  I never thought that I would have worked for a car dealership, but I went outside of my comfort zone to get experience working for another industry.

This summer, I had the opportunity to work for Heller Motors a family-owned car dealership in Pontiac, Illinois.  They have been in business for over 60 years and also have a Ford dealership in El Paso, Illinois.  I worked in the Parts Department where I stocked shelves with parts, located parts technicians needed, billed parts on customer invoices, and picked up/delivered parts to other dealerships. 

My internship began on May 13th, and I spent the first few days training and understanding the computer system I would be using throughout the summer.  I shadowed full-time employees when they would look up parts for cars to familiarize myself when doing tasks on my own.  I quickly learned within the first few days that there is no normal day when working in the Parts Department.  There were days when we would be looking up parts, ordering parts, and talking with customers on the phone and then the next day we would be looking for things to do to stay busy. 

I learned so much in the short amount of time I worked for Heller Motors.  I came in with no prior experience working with car parts and did not take any auto classes in high school.  I quickly caught on to everything that I was asked to do and enjoyed working with the three other employees in the department.  I am at a loss of words and cannot thank the employees enough for helping me whenever I had a question and being patient with me especially during the first few weeks of my internship.

In conclusion, I learned so many important skills that will benefit me in my future endeavors.  Communication is very important when speaking with customers on the phone about ordering parts for their car and letting them know when their parts came in.  I quickly figured out that organization is critical in the Parts Department making sure you can find oil filters, air filters, and brake pads in a timely manner for technicians when they need them.  Service is key when it comes to working for a car dealership and pleasing customers. 

The Unexpected Teaching Oppurtunity

“Everything happens for a reason.” 

Accepting a communications internship lead me to believe that I would be gaining more social media, radio and networking experience, which I was super excited to learn more about. What I was not expecting was to fall in love with my work every day because of an experience that was not in the job description. 

I am one of two communications interns at the Illinois Corn Marketing Board this summer. The other intern was not a usual pick at Illinois Corn because she had no agriculture experience at all. At first, I was really confused as to why she was here and even more importantly, how she got hired. She is a broadcast/journalism major from Illinois State University, and she found this internship from a professor at school. 

Illinois Corn was wanting to do some video work this summer and I was nervous because I have not had much experience making or editing videos. The other intern was hired because of her previous video experience which made me feel more at ease about the future tasks. On her first week on the job, we had Illinois Corn Growers Association and Illinois Corn Marketing Board meetings here in the office. As we sat through some meetings, I could see her eyes glazing over on the farming lingo and jargon they were using that I had been hearing most of my life. She was timid about asking questions at first, but I could tell she was curious to learn. This was my unexpected but amazing opportunity.

Throughout the summer, as we traveled to farms, businesses, and ethanol plants I would explain details that she likely would not know about. I got to use all of my Ag Ed knowledge and teach her in a way that she could understand but not in a way that would make her feel dumb for not knowing the answers. 

The more I taught her about the agriculture industry, the more she taught me about the communications and media industry. The differences I thought would set us apart actually helped mesh us together as a better team. 

By the end of the summer, as we drive around in the country she is able to tell me which fields look good and which fields could use a little work and I can edit videos like a champ and know which angles to use to get the best footage. 

We both were able to use our strengths to work as a team to complete the tasks at hand. This unexpected opportunity turned out to be my favorite part of the internship and has made me more interested in finding a career where I can continue to teach others about the agriculture industry.

Helena Agri- Enterprise

A Therapist Everyday

For the season, we had, to say the least, a therapist every day was the norm. We thought about adding a sign of when therapy sessions would start. Being in sales is not easy, especially with the year we had. This internship was a good one to learn from, no day is the same,  and not every conversation is the same.

There would be days that we won’t be running, and those were the days the customers were lined up waiting to talk to my boss. I got the experience to listen in on their complaints. I didn’t focus on the issue, but more about how Samantha handled the situation and took care of the customer. Running my business, I already knew that was a key component if you want to be successful, but it was helpful to listen in and be able to carry those tools in my back pocket for future references.

With no day being the same, and always talking about preventing plant, it was hard to not feel for the farmers. Samantha said even the farmers that never hesitate to know what they want to do were just beside themselves. How do you keep running? What are our fields going to be like in the next 5-10 years? Will we still be pulling ourselves out of this hole? Lots and lots of nitrogen were removed with all that water during spring that in Vermillion County it’s scarce we see any corn stalks that are still dark green at the bottom. Most stalks are yellow as can be with lots of nitrogen loss.

After the crazy few weeks were over and we got the chance to plant. Then we put on the post and didn’t get one raindrop for the whole summer. So fungicide season came and after the spring we had they didn’t know what to do. Do they spend the money? Do they cut the fungicide and add a different blend?

This year was a learning experience, it wasn’t the typical learning year, but I feel like it was the best. I got to intern during one of the toughest years and experience it and have it in my pocket for a resource for years to come. Every year is going to be hard, but just like in our sales meeting, there were 15 employees at Helena Agri-Enterprise that have been with the company for 35+ years and not one of them has experienced this bad of a year. Even though no one wanted this year, it was a good learning experience for me.

Learning Logistics Through the Mundane

As I reflect on the last 13 weeks for BASF Soybean Breeding in Seymore, IL I am happy to say that I learned a great deal. While some of my fellow interns may say otherwise.
The key to a good internship is asking all the right questions to gain better opportunities.

My day to day life consists of what others may see as mundane meaningless intern-only work. However, I found this a good opportunity to learn about logistics within a Research Farm. As interns our day to day tasks changed throughout the summer. In the beginning, we did a lot of preparation for planting, such tasks included: checking inventory, processing grain, packaging seed for the field, sorting packets for different planting locations, preparing equipment for fieldwork, and actually putting the seed in the ground. 
Of these jobs, I feel the most stressful was packaging the seed and sending it to the proper location. Boxes were triple checked and put in proper order so that it would be an easy transition for those working on top of the planter. Even as I was in the field with my fellow interns there was a box or two that was assembled incorrectly nearly disrupting the whole order of the planting map. 
A big point of logistics with planting was communication between seed droppers and the operator (as seen in photo) while driving one has to be aware that all systems were in the proper trip settling, that the planter was lowered and raised at a safe speed, and correct the auto-steer as needed. Before I had the opportunity to drive the planter, I was a seed dropper/ distributor on top of the planter. I will address when the operator doesn't communicate with distributors, things can get a little crazy and you feel as though you are riding a rollercoaster.
After planting one of the top priories for stewardship at BASF was volunteer crop monitoring. This required the team to go out to the plots of the previous year and check for volunteer DUP (Regulated Crops) and destroy in the untested plot. Destroying the volunteer beans ensured that DUP seed would not contaminate the grain stream. When the corn was taller (than shown below) it was very easy for the interns to get lost in the field. If one was not careful about counting steps of staying within stride with the team, you could easily walk a quarter of a mile in the wrong directions. After a few instances where an intern continually got lost in the field, my boss found it was high time that the team bought walkie talkies to communicate. This proved to be a very effective mode of communication and the team never leaves for the field without them. This job was to be repeated each month throughout the from planting till just before harvest, and it was a time-consuming task that would take a week to yet all the past planting locations. My boss did the best he could with the number of workers he had if we would have had 3 more interns things would have gone faster. 

The skill that I was most excited to learn was cross-pollinating. This job was not for the impatient or quick to anger that's for sure. Using tiny tweezers to peel open even smaller flower buds was not a simple task for me. What I like to call "sterilizing the plant" or ripping every flower bud off a single plant was not uncommon in the beginning. However, eventually, I was able to get my barrings and become one of the faster pollinators then I was called to teach the other interns who were not in attendance during the training day. I used my teaching training from previous classes in school too as questions as I demonstrated to my fellow intern, I practiced asking questions of their level of competency throughout the task, gave them assistance while pollinating, and tested their abilities by having them finish flowers on their own. I found this portion of the job was very rewarding this summer because I never had the privilege to teach a skill that could help someone later down the line in crop science work.

In summary for the logistics for a research farm the keys to success are:
the organization, communication, and willingness to step up and teach. I think without the great supervisor Nathan that I have this operation would end in shambles.