2023 Summer Intern: Levi Schiller

Hello everyone, my name is Levi Schiller. This is my first summer interning with Aurora Coop currently stationed at the Harvard location working in the in-season agronomy sales and service. My summer is a little bit different than most of the other interns. Previously before switching to the Harvard location, I spent a few weeks in Aurora working with the RFR Program (Real Farm Research). Concluding my internship, I will be following a seed business manager learning about the coop’s seed brand Prairie Valley. This fall I will be starting my sophomore year at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where I am Studying Agribusiness and Agronomy. I am from Scribner Nebraska where I grew up on a row crop operation raising corn and soybeans. I also raise a small amount of popcorn that I personally sell called Levi’s Piggin out Popcorn.

As I began my summer working for RFR I did some field scouting of plots, received an overview of how their trials were planted, and understood how a protocol is created to form a research study. Transitioning to my agronomy internship with Harvard I get to interact with customers, scout fields, and gain more in-depth agronomic knowledge. Following my time working at Harvard I will learn more about the Prairie Valley corn and soybean lineup. While learning how the coop is striving to select the best hybrids and varieties to help enable their growers to produce the highest quality and yielding commodities in the nation.

Something I have viewed working for the coop is the employs dedication to the growers, youth, and community. Whether it is the sprayer operator or the location manager they all have the same dedication to the customer. Growing up on the farm I know it takes a great effort to produce a good crop year after year. Aurora coop is extremely dedicated to the next generation as well. I personally have gained a tremendous amount of agronomic knowledge from their staff that we in some cases have already implemented on our farm. From what I have seen out of all the people employed by the coops is a great commitment to all their customers and the people in the community that they support. I really appreciate the opportunity I have had in learning from the people at the coop and look forward to learning more as the growing season continues.