By: Kelly Fager, Agricultural Communication, Wauseon, OH

A summer of personal and professional growth was one I had this year interning with AGCO in their North America Marketing – Communication and Public Relations department at headquarters in Duluth, Georgia.

I had several large projects this summer that helped contribute to the success of AGCO.  Whether assisting with an internal global brand rollout or participating actively in an upcoming launch for the new state-of-the-art Dealer Portal, I was able to provide knowledge and input as a team member.  I personally contributed to these projects and other program launches by initiating communication plans, writing content pieces, activating the plans and creating surveys to measure success. I traveled to Jackson, Minnesota to visit the plant and tour Intivity Center for a media event.  This opportunity allowed me to interact firsthand with agriculture media and see the pride AGCO employees have in these Jackson built machines.  Although just a few of my projects, I had a well-rounded and worthwhile internship.

Not only did I spend my summer being a tourist in Georgia but also AGCO did provide several unique experiences that I’ll never forget.  Eating lunch with the CEO or driving a Challenger tractor during Ride-and-Drive definitely was memorable experiences from my summer in the south!

This summer was more than just an internship for me. It was a chance to see the future of agriculture as my career and why agriculture is in such an exciting time with equipment, technology and feeding a growing population. AGCO allowed me in this internship to make it “Your Agriculture Company” in the sense of my projects, company contributions and personal takeaways. I’m thankful for this summer internship opportunity I had and know that I will be using the resources that AGCO provided for my future career in agriculture.

By: Meghan Bennett, Agricultural Communication | Houston, OH

In today’s professional world, internships are a must have experience for any college student, no matter their major or interests. But I feel especially lucky for the opportunity to work in Beck’s marketing department this summer. I not only gained exceptional field experience, but found out what it means to be a part of a family-owned company.

My responsibilities ranged from helping create content for monthly newsletters, social media posts, and advertising materials to developing a press release and gathering customer testimonials. A major project and one I truly enjoyed was my weekly Intern Avenue post on the Beck’s Blog. This blog serves as a journal for my summer spent with Beck’s.

Most importantly, I learned that sometimes life is not always about taking the road most traveled, but building your own path along the way. With that being said, I am so happy to share that my role with Beck’s will continue as I’ll be working part-time while attending school. This means that not only will I continue to work for Beck’s, but I will also continue my Intern Avenue blog posts.

Thanks to both the Beck Family and the Beck’s family of employees who have touched my heart this summer and made it possible for college students like myself to not only better themselves, but also the future of agriculture.

By: Paul Goettemoeller, Agricultural Systems Management | Botkins, OH

This summer has been an eye opener. I have had a wonderful experience working with Cargill Ag-Horizons. Luckily, I was able to travel to Topeka Kansas for two weeks, helping with their general maintenance and grain bin inventory. I was also able to travel to the corporate headquarters in Minnesota for a week, where I got to personally meet every intern with Cargill this summer. With their diverse culture, it is easy to become a leader. Since I have been working in Cargill’s grain division, I have had many unique opportunities to meet new people, understand the grain business, and how to apply what I have learned in school to real-world applications. Being an ASM major at Ohio State has put me in a very good position for this type of work. With experience in mechanical skills, as well as electrical and steel working skills, I feel as though I was more than prepared for this internship.

Many of the routine tasks include preventative maintenance, checking bin temperatures, moving ground piles, drying and storing grain, grading grain, as well as the most important one: loading trains to the end user. I also organized a 5S of our maintenance shop. When using a shop almost on a daily basis, it must be efficiently organized and set up so that when equipment is down, you know precisely where your tools are.

Cargill is very big on developing young people into leaders, so that one day they may have the capacity to lead people, as well as the business. So far, this internship has been a very good experience for me in many ways. One of the most important was leading people. Although it seems as though it may be an easy task, it can actually take a lot of time and countless effort. As my manager once told me, “You don’t need a leader to steer a ship, the leader should lead the men aboard”.

By: Meredith DeLong, Agribusiness | Columbus, OH

Hi everyone! I’m Meredith DeLong and I just finished up my third year as an Agribusiness major at The Ohio State University. I am fortunate enough to be living on the west coast completing a coffee internship for a company called Trezo d’Haiti located in Dana Point, California for the summer!

So your first question is probably, how did I find a coffee internship?

It all started a close friend of mine asked me one day: What do you love about life? So I started making a list. She mentioned, “Get detailed, and include things that make life worth living”. Then she asked me what is the first thing you do when you wake up? I said I drink a cup of coffee.

There we go. So I researched coffee companies and found Trezo d’Haiti. It’s funny how you have to use one piece of paper (your resume) to sell yourself to a person. So my advice is make sure that paper is perfect and represents exactly who you are. The process took roughly 2 months though email and phone interviews.

So after landing this one unique internship opportunity and knowing one friend in the Sothern California area who has continually supported and motivated me to purse my career dreams out west, I moved to California for the summer.

So what is a coffee internship?

I’m not talking about a typical internship setting in an office in New York City where employers expect you to make “coffee runs”.

I was brought on as an intern to work on the agronomy/sales/marketing for Trezo d’Haiti. Trezo d’Haiti’s coffee company’s mission is to rediscover a treasure, revitalize a tradition and rebuild a nation through coffee. 100% hand-picked, natural, organic and unmodified. The incredible side of my internship is that Trezò d’Haïti uses an expanded fair trade model our growers are partners, not suppliers. Therefore renewing an industry (coffee) that was once the backbone of a nation, we can begin to cultivate a sustainable business practice and source of pride for millions in Haiti.

So now approaching the halfway point of my internship, here are my responsibilities and opportunities within Trezo d’Haiti:

• Sales skills and how to implement marketing strategies (ex. point of purchase) in both established and developing territories in the Orange County area.
• The importance of organizational skills (through excel spreadsheets), including sales preparation and time management.
• Understand the company’s practices, product knowledge, and product placement.
• Assist in planning and organizing events to promote the coffee business and increase brand awareness
• Present coffee agronomy information/research directly to Jason (co-founder of the company)

Working in sales, a common theme I’ve noticed is that everyone wants to be heard. It’s a people to people business, where communication is key. So with that said the biggest advice and concept I’ve learned thus far to be successful not only in sales but in life: be interested not interesting.