Gaining first-hand experience in farm management and real estate
Knowing that he wanted to get first-hand experience in the areas he is most passionate about, farm management and real estate, Jason Johnloz (Farm Management; Bluffton, IN.) found it to be an easy choice to work for Halderman Farm Management & Real Estate Services for his summer internship. He mentioned, “While classroom learning at Purdue is top tier, I felt that doing an internship and getting real world experience would also be extremely valuable and teach me things I wouldn’t be able to learn in the classroom.” He started doing work for the Halderman company during his senior year of high school and his dad worked for them his entire life, so he knew that he would want to return to them during his college summer.
His role this summer mainly consisted of traveling alongside a Halderman area representative who covered the Northeast Indiana area of about 20,000 acres of tillable farmland. While they traveled, he was able to observe client fields and report back to them with pictures and narratives on crop conditions as well as take part in conversations between the farm manager, his tenants, and clients. Beyond traveling with an area representative, Jason was a part of three actions conducted by Halderman Real Estate. In this role he helped with the marketing of farm real estate, put up signs for advertisement, and communicated with bidders at the auction.
One of his favorite memories was assisting someone without computer access during an online auction. “[The man] got access to a cell phone from one of his neighbors and I was able to log into a computer remotely and during the auction, talk to him on the phone and bid for him.” This was just one of Jason’s many impactful experiences during his time with the company this summer.
This internship reassured Jason that he wants to continue to pursue farm management and encouraged him to get his real estate license and appraiser’s license post-graduation from Purdue due to the demand there is for both in the industry. One of his biggest takeaways from the summer is to be on the lookout for opportunities in whatever situation you may be in. “Being friendly to everyone you encounter and as outgoing as possible can really open the door for many different networking opportunities down the road.”