Nutrien Ag Solutions Internship
Like the title says, this past summer I had the opportunity to be an intern with Nutrien Ag Solutions in Greensburg, IN. I took on many roles throughout the summer. My main role was a crop scout, which I loved. I love being outside and I especially love being outside looking through a corn or bean field. Field scouting really enhanced my classroom knowledge of weeds, fertilizers, herbicides, and plant diseases. I am a very hands-on learner so physically getting to see and touch all of these different aspects really helped me learn more of what agronomy is all about.
Another one of my roles was tissue sampling. Every week myself and the other intern would go out to specific fields and select samples from the “good” and “bad” areas of the field. Before this I never really know there was a certain way to tissue sample. There are certain parts of the plant you sample at specific growth stages. For example, if a soybean is in the VE-V3/4 stage then you sample the whole plant, but if the plant is larger than V4, then you select only the top, most developed trifoliate.
One of the other big roles I had involved working with chemicals–herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, adjuvants, and fertilizers. I had to be familiar with the type of chemical the applicator would be using so I could find it in the chemical building. This helped me become more familiar with which chemicals do what. This was a very interesting aspect to me. There are so many chemicals out there, but actually learning their advantages, disadvantages, and modes of action really enhanced my agronomic knowledge.
In my personal opinion, Nutrien is a great company. It was my first time working with a corporate type company. Seeing how large an Ag Retail company can get is astounding. Throughout the internship, us interns had the opportunity to be introduced to several aspects of the company, like getting to talk with different chemical reps and getting a tour of Corteva in Indianapolis. There were so many aspects of this internship that really helped to make me a more well rounded individual. If you’re looking for an internship where you can really learn, I highly recommend Nutrien Ag Solutions.