Saathoff scouts beans that were planted after wheat harvest.
Most people have pumped gas at a gas station by the time they go off to college. Such was not the case for second-year Agricultural Business Management major Paul Saathoff. He used a commercial pump to fill the tank of his company truck for the first time during his internship at the Greenwood Delaware Branch of Willard Agri-Service. Growing up on a family farm in Denton, MD, Saathoff could access fuel at home, so he never needed to pull up to the pump until this summer.
And, he filled up many times as he traveled through Delmarva, scouting crops, pulling tissues, taking soil samples, and making deliveries for Willard. Travelling was actually one of his favorite parts of the job. He enjoyed talking with growers, learning about their different operations, and then thinking about how applying these different methods could benefit his family’s farm.
In addition to traveling, Saathoff says he enjoyed scouting. Scouting required Saathoff to take a lot of tissue sampling to determine crop health and assess whether fertilizer applications would be beneficial to the crop. He would meticulously identify weeds, insects, and diseases in farmers’ fields; then, he entered the data about his findings into software programs to help Willard track of what is happening in the fields of their customers. While interning at Willard, Saathoff had the opportunity to work independently, which he greatly prefers. In fact, a significant reason why he will be returning to his family’s farm is simply that as he says, “it’s more fun to run your own operation.”
Even though Saathoff may never refuel at a station again, he is glad to have spent his summer working somewhere other his family’s farm because it gave him a chance to learn in-depth about scouting and crop health in addition to many other skills that he plans to apply in the future on the farm.
