Procurement, Precision Ag, and Ag Sales Intern
Hello, I am Wade Ohlson, a second-year intern at Aurora Cooperative this summer. I am from Aurora, and I am a student at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, going into my junior year this fall studying Agri-business and minoring in Agronomy. My summer looks a little different than others as I am interning in three different areas: procurement under Dan Karr at the Aurora main office, research and development under Brandon Hamer in Aurora, and agronomy sales under Reed Stone at the Havard office.
Last year, I had such a good experience, so I was excited for the opportunity to come back for more exposure into the cooperative and new learning opportunities to build off the previous year. I grew up east of Aurora on a small farm and have loved agriculture for as long as I can remember. I felt like the cooperative was the best fit for an internship since they go hand-in-hand with farming, and I have built great relationships with coworkers due to living in Aurora and doing business with them on my operation.
My day to day is very spread out due to me being at different location throughout the week. For two days a week, I am at the main office with Dan Karr doing procurement which includes looking at fill orders, checking inventory, sales meetings and interacting with fertilizer companies. On two other days of the week, I spend my time at Owners Acres seeing more of the precision side of Aurora Coop and how they test their own products on different varieties and hybrids of crops. My last day of the week is spent at the Harvard Agronomy location where I am in fields, talking to growers and learning about different products that the co-op has to offer.
My biggest takeaway from this summer would be improving my ability to adapt and learn on the fly. Being at different locations for limited amounts of time has taught me to be efficient in what I do and to adapt to the task at hand as well as to take what I have learned here and apply it to my own operation. I am looking forward to continuing building the relationships I have made since interning at the cooperative, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to work for this company and the people who have invested their time for me to have an amazing learning experience.