A Farm-Filled Summer
Hi everyone, it’s Kate again! My time with Carolina Farm Credit has flown by and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work for such an amazing company this summer.
In just the short time I’ve been here, I have learned so much and gotten to meet so many amazing people. I am a Credit Analyst Intern and Loan Officer Intern, so I have gotten to work on a couple different projects and have learned about both sides of the loan making process. One of the projects, which I am working on with the other interns, is on mapping food deserts and farmers markets in our area. I have learned so much about our region and gotten to speak with many interesting people.
For the credit analyst part of my internship, I have been working with my mentor, Chase Blankenship, on a project that looks at Ag Program Payments through the COVID-19 pandemic and how they impacted farmers. This project has been so much fun for me because I love economics and working with numbers! Also, from working with Chase, I have learned a great deal about credit analysis, making credit packages, and the information we look at to determine if we can make a loan.
In my loan officer portion of the internship, I have gotten to work with many loan officers across our association. Andrea, Jake, Wes, and Rebecca have all taught me so much about the loan process. Jody, my Regional Manager, has helped me so much as well with learning the loan process, working with customers, and seeing the process as a whole. One day I also got to ride with one of Carolina Farm Credit’s appraisers, Caleb Haywood, which was really fun and taught me so much! I have truly enjoyed going on so many farm visits and meeting so many people - they have become some of my favorite memories of the summer!
One of my favorite memories from this summer is the time we had a farm tour of The Berry Patch in Rockingham. I grew up visiting The Berry Patch as a kid, so getting to meet the owner and see the operation from behind the scenes was amazing! Another experience I really enjoyed this summer was the tour of Metrolina Greenhouses in Concord. To get to see that large of an operation is a really exciting experience!
I am so thankful I got the opportunity to work for Carolina Farm Credit this summer. Thank you so much to everyone in the Carolina Farm Credit family that I have worked with and learned from this summer!