Growing A Community

It has been quite the week in the Corn Belt. I have traveled many miles and seen a lot of territory. My internship took me to Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois where I was able to meet with a couple of growers and ride along with some fellow interns.

As a little girl growing up on the farm, horses were my favorite animals, with cattle coming in at a very close second (I then grew up and realize that cattle were much more practical in Iowa). Nonetheless, I spent many days dreaming of owning my own horse farm, racing my Thoroughbreds at Churchill Downs and trucking my Quarter Horses to rodeos in the Wild West. I wanted white fences surrounding my farm and bells to play “My Old Kentucky Home” every time I walked into my house.

However, as I drove through the hills of Kentucky this week, I realized quickly that it is a different state, mindset, territory – I’m not sure how to describe it other than absolutely BEAUTIFUL. With the winding roads, trees, and agriculture having such a strong presence, it makes you wonder if you’ve found a small piece of heaven. Certainly, the people fit the bill too as they are delightful and will take time out of their day to have a conversation. I had the pleasure of riding along in a wheat combine with Johnathan Ayer, a LG Seeds dealer in Calhoun, Kentucky. Wheat was a whole new ballgame for me, and I quickly became acquainted with a New Holland combine with a 45-foot Draper head attached. It was quite the machine. Johnathan shared with me that ‘agriculture is a way of life’ and he couldn’t imagine his life any other way.

After wrapping up my interview on Tuesday afternoon, I bounced back on the Pennyrile Parkway and I rode along with Jim Jackson (DDM), Olivia Hinkle (Rising STAR Partner Intern), and Heidi Speer (Sales & Agronomy Intern) for the whole day on Wednesday. We toured through several southwest Indiana counties and I quickly became familiar with melon farms, coal mining, and beekeeping. It was so much fun learning about different aspects of the agricultural industry, and heck, who doesn’t love a good watermelon?

Thursday’s travel plans allowed me to meet my last grower for the week – Will Swoke from Hope, Indiana. Will’s family has quite the setup and enjoys working alongside his family. Whether they are selling seed or completing field work, family is the name of the game.

Throughout the week, the message that I shared in last week’s blog of developing a root system played repeatedly in my mind as I drove down the road. As I visited with the growers and rode along with my fellow interns and DDM, I realized that I had developed a small set of roots in Indiana. When I got back home on Thursday night, I began to appreciate the sense of community and wished that my trip had allowed me to continue to grow that set of roots. See, here’s the neat thing: wherever you travel, there’s a good chance that you’re going to meet several new people – certainly, that’s the case for working for LG Seeds. After meeting those people, I want to continue to expand those relationships – essentially leaving a piece of myself with those individuals with the hopes that someday, I can return and we can pick up where we left off. That’s the beauty of working in the agricultural industry.

Find your swimming trunks, suntan lotion, and picnic basket because next week, we are headed to Lake Michigan’s shorelines. Oh – and I guess bring your camera and gear too because “Adventures from the Corn Belt” is Michigan bound and down!

Lauren Mosher

LG Seeds Marketing Intern

Published 6.19.2020