Advice to Students: Pursue Global Internships

Many college students are beginning their summer breaks or perhaps an internship. The topic of internships and how to engage students in the exciting opportunities that agriculture has to offer was presented last week at Alltech's amazing ONE Conference. I visited with Karl Dawson Alltech's Chief Scientific Officer, about the opportunities for young people in agriculture today.

Dawson: "I think the encouragement is — it is a very exciting time. It is time to take technology and move it on to the farm. I talked about the term farm technologist — rather than thinking about a simple farmer we are talking about people who take technology and apply it to the agricultural industry."

Dawson says that now more than every, it is important to have a global awareness of what is happening in agriculture. When students are considering internship opportunities, they should really concentrate on internships that provide an international perspective.

Dawson: "It is very important because the industry itself is very global. We have businesses in 120 different countries — maybe more right now. So we are not just in the U.S., we are not just in the big countries around the world. So you see everything in all sorts of different cultures. Agriculture has so many things to offer when you look at cultural diversity. The farms that they have in China are different totally from what you would run into in the U.S. All of them have good ideas and aspects. We need leaders who can incorporate that and understand them."