Q & A with ABM Major Olivia Gager

Olivia Gager tells us about her exciting summer interning for Bayer Crop Science and provides advice to students looking for similar opportunities.

Hometown: Breckenridge, MI
Major: Agribusiness Management with a minor in Agronomy.

What are your future career goals?
I hope to use my agronomy concentration to work with field research and seed development.

Where did you work for your summer internship and what were your responsibilities?
I was the Seed Production Intern for Bayer Crop Science. My responsibilities included maintaining seed returns data, developing suggestions to better the production process, and researching sustainable changes for Bayer as a company.

How did you find this internship?
I introduced myself to the Bayer Recruiters at the Agriculture Career Fair. I proceeded to meet with them the following day to discuss opportunities within the company.

Why were you interested in this particular internship opportunity?
Bayer is known for investing in the education of their interns. The Seed Production internship was a hands-on position that offered me the opportunity to grow as both a business professional and an agronomist.

What was your favorite part of the internship?What did you learn from this experience?
My favorite part was getting to see first-hand how many small details go into producing quality seed for our farmers. Every week, we were able to participate in conference calls, which was a time for us to listen to agriculture professionals in a wide variety of specialties. This was a great opportunity to not only broaden my education, but to also get ideas for possible career paths

Do you have any advice you would give other students who are looking for internships?
As a student, it can be intimidating working alongside professionals who have been in the industry for years. The best thing you can remember is to ask questions! Those professionals are there for your benefit and to share all the knowledge they’ve gained over the years. Your success is their success.

Did the pandemic impact your internship experience?
Initially my internship was supposed to take place in Waterman Illinois. Due to Covid-19, all interns were moved to a virtual setting. I was very skeptical of how a virtual internship would play out, especially when working in agriculture. But Bayer was very innovative and used software to give us access to specific projects for each site. We were able to present projects to company executives and network with many areas within the company. Although they did a great job under the circumstances, I can’t wait to be onsite next summer!

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