By Bethany Lee

Graduate and undergraduate students from across the country met in the mid-Atlantic in August to learn about agriculture in the region, visiting everything from a traditional Amish farm to an industrial soybean processing plant.

The tour was hosted by Science for Success, a team of 25 extension specialists in multiple soybean growing regions who work together to provide research-based best management practices for U.S. soybean farmers. Since 2019, students who work for those specialists have joined the summer tour to learn about soybean production and agriculture in different regions.

“I really enjoy the community feel in the soybean grad tours every year,” says Lilly Bunch, a graduate student assistant studying crop science at NC State University.

Bunch was one of five students from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to go on the tour.

“We all have the same interests, and it’s just really beneficial to interact with people who enjoy the same things as you and actually know what you’re talking about. You bond with people really quickly that way,” Bunch says.

Bunch is the co-chair of the graduate student committee within Science for Success, where she meets regularly with other graduate students to plan professional development and networking opportunities and help prepare students for graduation. Rachel Vann, soybean Extension specialist and associate professor of crop and soil sciences at NC State, serves as the lead primary investigator for Science for Success. Bunch works with Vann as part of the soybean agronomy team.

This was Bunch’s second and final year of attending the tour before she graduates in May.

“I am sad about that, but I’m glad I ended on a good one,” she says.

Daniela Carrijo and Nicole Fiorellino, two Science for Success researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Maryland, respectively, coordinated this year’s tour in their states.

“We hit some unique-type farms here for our region, including dairy farms in southwest Pennsylvania. We visited an Amish producer to learn more about the differences of how they farm,” says Fiorellino. “As we moved into Maryland, we visited a mushroom growing facility which is fairly unique to the mid-Atlantic region.”

Students also attended a panel on conservation practices, visited a soybean crushing facility, learned about the poultry industry, and visited the University of Maryland’s Wye Research and Education Center to hear more about extension efforts in the state.

“I was really focused on letting the graduate students interface with farmers and learn more about how the farmers interface with us in extension, and how they use the research results that we put out to make decisions on their farm,” Fiorellino says.

Most of the students on the tour work specifically with soybeans, so Fiorellino and Carrijo wanted to give them an opportunity to explore fields they don’t typically work in, and to understand how different sectors work together.

“I hope that the students that participated in the tour not only learned a little bit more about mid-Atlantic agriculture and the practices that we use, but I also hope they enjoyed their experience engaging with farmers and learning about the farmers in the mid-Atlantic region and their relationship with extension and researchers as well,” Fiorellino says.

CALS student Isabella Dean, a senior majoring in agricultural science, says the tour exposed her to the many ways of approaching agriculture.

“I really enjoyed being able to get out of the state and see agriculture from different points of view,” Dean says. “Agriculture is such a wide industry, and things are so different even across the state, so [I enjoyed] being able to see three different states in one weekend and see how different farms operate even if they do the same thing or grow the same thing. It was really cool to be able to expand my horizons and learn more about the industry I hope to work in one day.”

The Graduate Student Tour on Aug. 4-7 was made possible by many generous sponsors, including the Atlantic Soybean Council, Delaware Soybean Board, Maryland Soybean Board, Pennsylvania State University College of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Soybean Board and the United Soybean Board.

About Science for Success: Science for Success is a national team of soybean Extension specialists from land-grant universities. Science for Success is funded by the United Soybean Board through the checkoff program.

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.