An Impactful Summer Experience

For the last 10 weeks, 17 interns across eight offices interned at Farm Credit East working on a number of different projects. I worked out of the Enfield, Conn., office where I went on farm tours, shadowed employees, worked on my focused summer project, and so much more!

Immersion into Northeast Agriculture

Farm Credit East aims to give interns the opportunity to learn as much of their business as possible. Over my summer experience, I personally was able to visit six different offices and many different farms, including vegetables, swine, dairy, oysters, cranberry, maple, sawmills, tobacco, sod, vineyards and orchards, that really showcased the large diversity of agriculture within the northeast. When visiting each operation, we were able to see how real the connections were between the Farm Credit East employees and the customers and how Farm Credit East supported their business to help it grow and thrive.

A Glimpse into the Farm Credit System

Other highlights include a trip to New Jersey to visit the Federal Farm Credit Bank Funding Corporation where we learned how funds flow through the entire Farm Credit System. With the Funding Corporation being such an integral part of how Farm Credit East serves its customers, it is really important to see how they fit together, doing different things to serve the same mission.

Job Shadowing

Over the course of the summer, I had multiple opportunities to shadow different areas of the business. I shadowed an appraisal team member, traveling to a property to capture photos and then helped find information for the sales comparison approach. It gave me a real look into the day-to-day life of an appraiser.

I spent time in the payroll department, packaging and reviewing on busy days. Additionally, I spent a day shadowing Country Living, Farm Credit East’s mortgage lending arm. I participated in customer calls, which allowed me to actually see the team’s impact in real time.

Focused Project

When I wasn’t on the road, I spent my time completing projects for the Knowledge Exchange team. I updated the Grants and Incentives report to make sure information on all available grants was up to date for our customers. I also had the opportunity to update our congressional district profiles and demographics of our business model, along with a few other smaller projects. There was never a dull moment in the internship! The Farm Credit East team did a great job making sure we felt like valued employees.

The Intern Experience   

One of the biggest takeaways that every intern noticed is that Farm Credit East is simply special. There is no other company culture that is as welcoming as Farm Credit East. The work done by the interns is useful, and the focused projects leave an impact on the company.

I asked another intern, Katie Livingston, working out of the Cooperstown, N.Y., office about her greatest takeaway. She explained it was how excited others were to help when you reached out. She noted that advocating for yourself “leads to many opportunities that would’ve never arose if you had never reached out!” Katie was able to jump in the car and quickly join Enfield interns out in Middleboro, MA, an opportunity made possible by simply asking.

The intern experience does a great job of showcasing the many different areas of Farm Credit East’s business. From loans to payroll to crop insurance, Farm Credit East truly does do it all, and the intern experience really highlights that.

Having no previous agricultural experience, the Farm Credit East internship really opened my eyes into how much is involved in agriculture, and how diverse that world is. I could not imagine a better way to spend my summer.

The internship program is offered to college juniors each summer. During the experience, students have an inside look into Farm Credit East and shadow employees in various roles to learn about different career opportunities. Interns are recruited from college campuses across the Northeast. For more information on the Farm Credit East internship program, visit our Student Opportunities page.