Interns benefit agriculture
By Cindy Snyder, Ag Weekly Correspondent
Friday, August 15, 2008 2:34 PM CDT
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| Amanda Pangburn has spent the summer working with soil conservationists like Mike Cothern. She has helped write Environmental Qualtity Incentives Program contracts and also inspections to make sure practices are being installed correctly through the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service’s internship program. CINDY SNYDER/Ag Weekly |
TWIN FALLS, Idaho - Sometimes a summer job is just a summer job, but for others it’s a first step on a career path. For those in agriculture, an internship is becoming almost a necessity.
“In our business, an internship is extremely important,” said Amy Smith, an agronomist with Western Farm Service in Twin Falls.
Western Farm Service has had an internship program for at least eight years, that’s how long she’s been with the company.
Smith heads up the research program for Western Farm Service and puts the summer interns to work evaluating plots for pest problems, pulling petiole samples, taking soil samples and harvesting. Interns see a variety of crops, from hops and onions in western Idaho to potatoes and alfalfa in eastern Idaho.
Bo Isham has been working with Smith as an intern for three summers, ever since he completed his freshman year as a crop science major at the University of Idaho. Over the years, his responsibilities have grown from helping do plant evaluations to being in charge of plots.
“My work expands what I learn at school,” Isham said. “I can see how production agriculture is dealing with a fertility problem or an insect problem instead of just reading about it.”
He grew up on a farm in eastern Idaho, but credits his internship program with exposing him to different crops and production systems.
“I like to get the interns involved with talking to farmers, scouting fields and working with the branches so they can see how the entire business functions, not just the research program,” Smith said.
For Amanda Pangburn a summer internship program helped bring her home in a way. Pangburn’s family moved from Idaho to northeastern Alabama when she was young, but she still has family in the Magic Valley. She is pursuing an ag science degree at McPherson College in Kansas.
During her eight weeks with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Twin Falls, she was able to work with farmers who are voluntarily adopting practices to protect soil and water resources and spend time with family.
“I’m getting to see the ins and outs, ups and downs, pros and cons of the whole process,” she said.
She has worked with farmers who are coming into the office to get information about a program, to completing contracts to doing periodic field inspections to make sure practices are being installed correctly.
While she has enjoyed working with soil conservationists in the Twin Falls office, she is also considering pursuing a master’s degree in agricultural engineering. The NRCS internship is a two-year program and she will be placed in a different office next summer. She hopes that experience will help her decide which career path to follow.
“My favorite part has been working with farmers,” she said. “When you can help cost-share a practice and they can see how much it can help them in the end, it’s positive for our environment and it’s positive for them.”
Sue Ellis, human resources officer for the NRCS in Boise, said the goal of the program is to convert student trainees to full-time employees. NRCS likes to have eight to 10 students working across the state each year.
The program is becoming an increasingly valuable recruiting tool, especially now when approximately 40 percent of the NRCS staff in Idaho will reach retirement eligibility within the next five years.
“Our goal is that we keep our students,” Ellis said.
But finding students with the right background for a summer internship is becoming more difficult. The NRCS prefers to place students who are majoring in an area in that discipline, for example, range management or engineering.
“More and more students seem to be pursuing degrees that are more environmental or natural resource based,” Ellis said. “It’s seems to be more difficult to find traditional agricultural degrees.”
While Smith agrees it’s harder to find students majoring in an ag-related field, it’s not just the major she’s looking at. Communication skills and the ability to work with people are paramount for converting a summer internship into a full-time position. The intern at Western Farm Service before Isham was hired full-time after graduation, and Isham would also like to work for the company.
“We’re looking for someone with a work ethic and a desire to work. This industry is not just a Monday to Friday, eight to five job. This is not the cleanest job all of the time,” she said. “Most find they really do enjoy it.”
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