How an internship connects NCI to NDSU — and one student to a career
Housed in the Peltier Complex on North Dakota State University’s campus, a small team of 18 works to facilitate global agricultural discussion, education and technical services — just minutes away from the fields in which the food is grown.
The Northern Crops Institute focuses on educational programs surrounding various forms of agriculture, bringing together customers, commodity traders, technical experts and processors.
NCI is a collaboration between North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota and Minnesota. As a part of North Dakota Century Code, NCI is administered by NDSU, with a separate budget and reporting lines.
Grace Olin, a soon-to-be junior at NDSU, is an NCI program intern. There, she lends a hand wherever needed — organizing people, driving guests around and helping promote NCI programming on campus.
She studies agricultural education, which combines the two things she loves the most: people and ag.
“When the ‘light’ comes on, when you can see it in their eyes — that’s what I love so much about it,” says Olin.
Instead of teaching youth in a classroom, Olin aspires to teach adults in a nonformal setting, similar to Extension adult education. Olin says this internship is helping guide her toward what she wants in a career and the types of learners she wants to work with.
This year, she’s honing her skills by communicating with kids, parents, sponsors and her team to deliver agricultural programming.
That internship is a way NCI is connected with NDSU.
“She’s really taking care of a lot of the details we need,” says Casey Peterson, program development manager at NCI. “She’s played a critical role in putting our Summer Ag Academy together and making sure it runs smoothly.”
The NCI Summer Ag Academy is a free, hands-on career exploration experience for high school students interested in food science, animal science, international trade and ag technology.
Olin credits her interest in ag education to growing up on the farm with her three siblings, bonding with her brother while learning to care for cattle.
She even did a bit of fundraising for the Ag Academy, giving her some solid real-world practice in this area.
NCI works with large national cooperators, such as U.S. Wheat Associates, U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council, and U.S. Soybean Export Council, to determine the agricultural and food systems knowledge participants are hungry for.
Peterson says he enjoys meeting collaborators from everywhere — from North Dakota farmers to CEOs of international food and feed companies.
“I love the interaction across the system,” says Peterson. “Seeing how it works and helping connect the pieces is enjoyable and feels important.”
For example, NCI hosted 36 international guests — soybean and soybean meal buyers — from 16 countries for a week-long risk management program in May. The next groups come in to learn about baking and food products using barley and sorghum. Every spring, there’s a pasta manufacturing course. On-demand training and webinars are also available.
Of the course attendees, 61% end up purchasing more product from the U.S.
“It’s really seeing how everything is developing, the technology that’s coming into play, nutrient needs and wants globally — there’s not a boring day here,” says Peterson.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Northern Crops Institute, 701-231-7736,
https://www.northern-crops.com/
