Producers Blog

This week was far from ordinary, as I had the opportunity to travel to three states in three days. The week started out with a trip to Welcome, MN where I accompanied the regional agronomist, Aaron Ahrenholz, and the agronomy intern, Kally Philipp, to a field where we analyzed disease stricken corn. Although it is difficult to diagnose without the help of a lab analyst, it appeared that the corn suffered from Pythium Root Rot, which is a condition that results from extended over-saturation of the soil. Pythium leads to dead plants and plant roots that are brown and greasy. While this is obviously not a situation you want to see in a corn field, I was impressed by the way Aaron handled the situation. He worked hand-in-hand with the District Sales Manager to develop a solution that would be the best fit for the farmer. In addition, Kally and I had a great learning experience by advancing our agronomy knowledge and witnessing professionalism and integrity in a situation that no one wants to be in.

After my time learning about Phythium, Kally and I headed west to visit test plots. We visited three different plots, traveling nearly to the South Dakota border. While at the plots we took stand counts, soil samples and looked for inconsistencies across varieties of corn. I was impressed with Kally’s agronomy knowledge and listened to her carefully to learn as much as I could. However, for me, the best part was being able to snap some photos of Kally getting her hands dirty in the field with her bright red truck in the background. The marketer in me must have been showing!

After a fun day spent in several fields, I took off on the trek back to eastern Iowa. Wednesday was a quiet day working from my hometown in eastern Iowa. I spent the day writing, making graphics, and traveling to South Dakota where my next adventure would begin.

On Thursday I had the opportunity to visit Caliber Creative, an advertising agency in Sioux Falls, SD. Caliber handles the large-scale marketing campaigns for Producers Hybrids, so it was exciting to see first-hand how the agency operates.

I walked in and instantly noticed an atmosphere that was built for creativity. The office was designed with an open concept, ideal for working in teams. Groups of desks in the main office space flowed into a creative area with a whiteboard and desk for collaborative thinking. Offices along the back wall all had glass walls which made it feel as though the people in the offices were easily accessible. The office had music playing throughout the entire workspace and snacks were readily available (personally, this was my favorite part). The Mac computer screens, that I swear were bigger than my TV, made it nearly impossible to not be productive.

After taking a second to absorb this new environment, we took off to head to the set of a video shoot the agency was doing that day. Lucky for me, the shoot was being done at a nursery, which meant I got to spend the morning surrounded by beautiful greens.

The video shoot was exciting to watch and I was intrigued by the ability of the camera crew to make the subject comfortable in front of the camera. It’s never fun to be on camera alone, but the camera man, director, and account executive were all so easy going that the man being filmed warmed up to the camera in no time. This was definitely a skill I needed to learn for my future in the marketing world!

After the video shoot, I had the opportunity to spend a little time with everyone in the office learning about everything from graphic design to managing clients to being the owner of an ad agency. I was continually amazed at the amount of work the agency accomplished in a day, with only eight people working there. I quickly learned that agency life is fast paced and changes every day, which creates a unique work environment.

After my time at the agency concluded, I hit the road for another trip back to Iowa. I often enjoy these driving times, as they give me an opportunity to think and reflect on what I learned that week. In this case, I was impressed with the level of care that Producers Hybrids shows towards their customers, fellow employees, and even interns. All throughout my time in Minnesota, Aaron and Kally were more than willing to stop what they were doing to answer a question I had or to clarify what an agronomic term meant. At the agency, no one hesitated to take me under their wing and give me the full agency experience, simply because I worked for a company that they knew and respected. I drove back to Iowa that night feeling blessed to work for such a high-quality company and feeling #ready4more learning opportunities.