Nineteen-year-old James Hastings is a native of Hurlock, Maryland, located on the Eastern Shore. An agricultural business major in the Institute of Applied Agriculture at University of Maryland College Park, Hastings plans to return to the family owned and operated Crop Production Service franchise, so he wanted to gain new experiences during his internship.
Hastings interned at one of the University of Maryland’s research centers, Wye Research and Education Center (WREC) on Wye Island. WREC specializes in horticultural and field crop research, conducting yield trials and testing innovative herbicide applications, organic methods and forthcoming ag technology.
Once hired as an intern, Hastings’ duties pertained to horticultural research. His favorite jobs and responsibilities on the WREC farm were harvesting the peach crop while recording the date yields from that particular harvest. “It was truly inspiring to be a part of the involvement with making new ways to grow fruit and seeing the field benefit at the end of the season,” he said.
Hastings found the resistance weeds and fungus development over time interesting. “Years ago growers did not need to worry about resistant weeds coming back after an herbicide application spray and being unable to kill with normal herbicide,” he said.
He also noticed the effects that chemicals can have on the environment and the precautions applicators need to be aware of. “I became aware of this problem after spraying my first field of peaches and all the safety preparations needed prior to the application,” he stated.
The internship sharpened Hastings knowledge of horticulture fertilizers and sprays which will fit him extremely well when returns to the family ag service business after graduation. He harvested fruit, cut grass, pruned fruit trees and bushes, and applied fertilizer, while recording data, looking at yield maps and conducting variety trials. “No two jobs are the same,” Hastings claims.
Skills Hastings acquired over the course of his internship were better knowledge of pesticide and herbicide application. Prior to his internship, Hastings did not have much experience with these applications for horticulture due to his family’s 65-year history with agricultural crop production. The application of herbicide Hastings performed was unique due to mid-season and pre-harvest applications. The young intern became very proficient at operating a sprayer and mixing the correct chemical rate.
After graduation in May, Hastings plans to help run the family’s crop production service, but if he changes his mind, his internship supervisor, Mike Newell, has a complementary suggestion: “James is a smart, hard worker and has a true future in ag research and development.”
