Ag Econ Senior’s ADM Sales Internship Confirms Future Career Path 

Tyler Barr (Agribusiness Management; Middletown, IN) completed his third different internship during the summer of 2022 as a Commercial Sales Intern for ADM Animal Nutrition. Tyler loved his past two summer internship experiences, so he knew that he wanted to complete one again before going into his senior year. “I really enjoy getting to try out different career paths, industries, and companies with no long-term commitment. I enjoy using my summer internships to learn more about various segments of agriculture.”  

While working for ADM this summer, Tyler was in Mishawaka, IN, but each day he traveled to various farms in the area to talk with farmers about their livestock. He was tasked with a summer project that was focused on organic dairies. He tested interest in ADM potentially putting together an all-organic calf feed for these organic dairies to use. While talking with farmers, if he felt that ADM had a product that would help in their operation, he was also able to suggest it and provide more information to them.  

Tyler began his search for a summer internship before the career fair even began by attending an evening social put on by the Animal Sciences Department. He had been looking into either feed or pharmaceutical sales but had not considered that ADM would be an option until that evening. He stated, “At the social, I talked with a representative from the company, and he suggested the opportunity, so I went back that night and applied for it online.” A few months later, he had an interview with a company and was then offered the job. 

When asked about his takeaways from the summer, Tyler mentioned, “The most valuable takeaway from this experience has to be that I appreciate production agriculture more and more.” Most of the dairies that he talked to milked for 3-4 hours a day only then to do their crop work and other tasks after. “They are putting in 12-hour days, everyday 365 days a year.” He also noted that it was very enjoyable to have the opportunity to recommend a product to a farmer that would be able to benefit both their farm and ADM.  

Tyler’s experience with ADM just reinforced the idea that he wanted to pursue a career in feed or pharmaceutical sales post-graduation and put ADM on his radar as a company to work for going forward. If he had any summers left, he would have loved to consider working for another company doing similar work so he could compare his experiences.