Agronomy Sales & Operations Intern

Hello, my name is Barrett Andel. This fall, I will be a sophomore at Northeast Community College studying agribusiness and agronomy. This summer, I am interning in the Agronomy Sales division at the David City location with Lisa Hlavac as my mentor. 

Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be in the agriculture industry. I am at Aurora Cooperative this summer to learn more about the ag service industry and get hands on experience in the field scouting and interacting with customers. I grew up on a small acreage just outside of David City. While I didn’t grow up on a farm, my family farms just north of David City so anytime I wasn’t busy with school, I would be out on the farm working. The part of agriculture that really drew my interest was the whole growing process of crops. It is very interesting to analyze how a crop reacts to different situations and adapts to overcome challenges. I also really enjoy going out into a field, identify an issue that a grower has, and then make a recommendation to help fix that problem. One interesting fact about me is that I used to have my own business where I sold whole ears of corn to feed stores called “Critter Corn”.  

So far this summer, I have had a chance to do so many things. I have scouted fields for growers to see what diseases, insects, and weed pressure they have and made recommendations. I have made deliveries to customers with products and picked up returns as well. I have also helped with pretty much everything in the warehouse from loading tender trucks all the way to organizing inventory. I’ve also had the chance to go out to the field with the drone crew and see what that process involves. I have also had the opportunity to go on multiple sales calls to solve problems that customers are having in their fields.  

For the most part, my day-to-day schedule varies. On Thursdays, I spend half the day collecting tissue samples from the Aurora Yield advantage fields, and then I spend the rest of the day scouting and giving reports back to customers for my project. On other days of the week, I will usually be out scouting for part of the day, driving to another location to pick up/drop off product, and spending time helping around the location wherever I am needed.

Something that stands out to me as my favorite part is scouting the fields. I really enjoy seeing the fields grow and develop and then letting the grower know any issues so they can fix them to maximize the full potential of their crop. I have gained knowledge concerning the crop growth stages and what to expect in each stage. I have also learned the identification and problems surrounding different insects, diseases, and weeds.