Helping college students network and connect with agribusiness leaders is the goal of the Field Atlas program through AgriNovus Indiana.
One of this year’s Field Atlas ambassadors is Conner Keeslar from LaGrange. He’s also studying Agricultural Education at Purdue University.
He says that the Field Atlas tours of Indiana-based agribusinesses, including Corteva and Ingredion, have helped him to gain far more insight on the ag industry.
“When you think of agriculture, you often think about the production side of things, but you don’t often get to think about and see the actual industry and manufacturing side that Indiana has to offer and the great companies we have here in Indiana,” he says.
Conner says that serving as a Field Atlas ambassador has also allowed him to learn much more about the many different opportunities to connect computer science with agriculture.
“Something I’m passionate about is computer science, engineering, and the majors we don’t often see in agriculture and how those get implemented,” he says. “We need them in the agricultural world. At the Field Atlas networking dinner, I was talking to representatives from Red Gold and how they have their barcode and computer system tracking and taking inventory of every single can, so they know where they are. That takes some major computer science and IT professionals. It’s bringing those people that don’t even know about agriculture into our agricultural industry to help boost our industry.”
Most of all, he says he’s enjoyed the opportunity to network with agribusiness leaders—including a data scientist at Purdue.
“He said he knows a lot of people with The Data Mine at Purdue University, and so he’s going to be a great networking opportunity for me to reach out to other professors and maybe discover some future career opportunities for myself,” he says.
Learn more about AgriNovus Indiana’s Field Atlas program by visiting MyFieldAtlas.com.
CLICK BELOW to hear Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news report:
