Written By: Kaylei Scott
With less than three more weeks to go, I am sad to say I am in the downward slope with my summer internship at Carolina Farm Credit. As I am nearing the end of my summer internship with Carolina Farm Credit, I have started to realize just how much I will miss being at the organization each day.
These people have taught me what it means to have a work family and a passion for what I do. I have experienced so many fun adventures in the past couple of months from going “off-roading” with Suzette, touring farms with Katie, to learning everything about the office with Tonie I have to say it has been a great experience thus far.
Last week the other interns, Suzette, Katie, and I toured multiple farms within Cleveland County. I worked with Suzette and Katie to plan this day to allow the other interns and myself to see the major operations in the county, and to see the reason behind why Carolina Farm Credit exists. I think this opportunity helped us to grasp a better understanding of the customers and the organization.
We toured ASR Grain that is owned by Steve Greene, Knob Creek Farms & Creamery owned by Jeff Crotts, and Katie Earl’s family beef cattle farm. During our tour we learned about the operations on each farm and how they differ from one another. We also had the opportunity to eat lunch at a local farm’s restaurant, “The Honey Hog at Provisions.” This restaurant serves locally produced food products such as cheese from Guernsey Girls.
For the last couple of weeks that I have left in my internship, the other interns and I will be steadily working on our project. This summer we composed a survey for part-time farmers in order to understand where their business originated from and how Carolina Farm Credit can obtain more business from people in that sector. So far we have begun analyzing the data that was collected and organizing it into a presentation to give recommendations to the executive team. I am excited and anxious to see what our final product will be, but I am also sad that this summer will be ending soon.