Farmers Coop Society has offered internships for over 10 years. We love partnering with the next generation of ag and seeing how our experience can continue to grow their passions and see where their career takes them. 

Grain Division Intern

Lucas Nagel joined FCS as the Grain Origination Intern. He is currently majoring in Ag Business at Northwestern College. His love for agriculture began at a young age. He grew up on the family farm, so it’s always been a part of his life. He always enjoyed doing farm work and loved the farming culture. He hopes to learn more about agriculture's business and marketing side while at FCS. As an intern, he enjoyed spending time with Matt and Warren to hear market insights and historical market facts and learn how they helped their customers. Lucas said he found it very interesting learning why the markets react the way they do. He enjoyed reading the market commentaries and learning what news and world events drive markets, especially when the markets are volatile.

Feed Division Intern

FCS welcomed Cori Franken as an intern in the Feed Department this summer. During her internship, she wrote feed orders, helped with billing, and learned how to use each of the computer systems. She has also observed the Proven team, including swine marketing and receiving feed orders. Her passion for agriculture came at an early age. She grew up on a farm and can remember always helping her dad with farm work. She also loves animals, so being around them on the farm and caring for them pushed Cori to pursue an ag-related career. We asked Cori what she has enjoyed learning about the most here at FCS during her internship. She responded, “I have enjoyed learning how everything must work together for a farmer to get feed. Communication between truckers, order writers, farmers, and others ensures that the feed gets delivered to the right place. FCS has done a great job of welcoming me and allowing me to see everything that goes on here!” Cori is from Sioux Center and is currently attending Dordt University, majoring in Ag Business. She has 2 brothers, and one of them is currently attending Dordt with her!

Agronomy Intern

Mia Haage is originally from Le Mars, IA, and is currently attending Iowa State for agriculture education. Mia grew up on her family farm, so she has never wanted to do anything else but be a part of the agriculture industry. Mia interned in Ireton with Mike Tiedeman and Aric Den Herder. Her duties included scouting fields, running chemicals to different locations, and delivering and picking up gear from farmers. She also helped a great deal in the seed shed by sorting and stacking with a forklift, helping with daily cleaning maintenance, and keeping inventory logs. Mia says that her internship has been helpful in getting hands-on experience with things she has learned in the classroom. She has enjoyed getting to know the FCS employees and interacting with farmers. Meeting new people and putting a face with names of people that she has grown up around was also a big highlight for Mia. Mia has two years left at Iowa State before she graduates but says she can see herself pursuing a career in agriculture or teaching.

Agronomy Intern

Haley Borman is from Rock Rapids, IA, and will be a senior at SDSU in the fall. Her major is agronomy. She grew up on her family farm and has always considered cattle as family. She grew up watching her dad, uncle, and grandpa around the farm, so her love of agriculture started very early. This is her 2nd summer as an intern for FCS. She helped when soybeans were planted at the Melvin, Sanborn, and Boyden plots and did many chemical transfers between FCS locations. For her project, she looked at early vs. late-planted corn and soybeans and observed growth stages and root mass every 2 to 3 weeks. She also looked at depth trials for corn at the Sioux center, Ireton, and Sanborn plots. Haley did population counts using a pogo for the early vs. late-planted corn and soybeans and for the depth trials. I love meeting farmers and growing my knowledge in agronomy. That’s probably my favorite part. She plans on pursuing a career in agriculture after she graduates.

Agronomy Intern

Braden Wilcox is originally from Moville, IA, and is going to be a senior at Dordt University majoring in general agriculture. Braden grew up on his family farm, so agriculture has always played a big part in his life. This summer, Braden performed multiple duties, including scouting fields, transferring chemicals, and seed box maintenance. Braden wanted to intern at FCS because he wanted to see what was involved in the agronomy side of agriculture. He liked how every day is different and that you are not doing the same thing again and again. He also liked how the other employees and agronomists are willing to help and answer questions. Braden said his favorite thing he learned during his internship was learning how to run the bean rider sprayer. Braden’s plans after graduation are to work in an agronomy-related job and help out on the family farm.

I.T. Department Intern

The I.T. department welcomed James Shippy. He worked closely with Jeff and Kirk on writing reports and updating spreadsheets. He has always been interested in technology, so he found it beneficial to see how FCS utilizes technology in its day-to-day operations. He said these were learning lessons that cannot be taught in a classroom. James is from Minnesota and is currently a Computer Science Major at Dordt University.