Internships Offer Valuable Experience

Three Western Arkansas interns share highlights of their summer work.

by Ashlyn Ussery, Summer Intern

Interns Brayden Burnett, Ashlyn Ussery & Baxter Wallis

Farm Credit of Western Arkansas - Lindsey Holtzclaw

To a college student, internships are everything. It’s an opportunity to meet new people, gain resume quality experience and of, course, we all need a little cash. Farm Credit gave me, along with Baxter Wallis and Brayden Burnett, the honor of representing the Farm Credit brand this summer.

Baxter and Brayden are senior agriculture business students. Baxter is from Dover and attends Arkansas Tech University and Brayden, a Winslow native, is studying at the University of Arkansas. I am from North Little Rock and currently a first-year graduate student studying agricultural communications at the University of Arkansas. For each of us, this internship was a major opportunity that has opened our eyes and our hearts a little wider to our love for agriculture.

“While visiting farms this summer, I came across many farmers who had unique ideas for their operations,”said Baxter, who worked in the River Valley.

Baxter joined Chief Appraiser Jim Wiedeman and Vice President Anna Lester at the Dardanelle Flood Fest.

He continued that their ideas created opportunities that allowed them to work in a way that maximized their time and money.

One farmer has spent several years engineering machines and structures to make life on the farm run more smoothly. This customer has engineered his own hay ring movers, mineral troughs and cattle rubs for fly control. He took the time to show Baxter how he used the things he had made and explained the impact made on his returns. He also related to Baxter how important the farming community is. For example, he recognized the market for the products he was making and shared his ideas to help others. He also shared his thoughts that agriculturalists are one big family and the importance of always lending a helping hand.

“What started as a simple farm visit, turned into me being amazed at this gentleman’s skills and provided a physical representation of what the farming community is all about,” Baxter said.

Brayden working with Vice President Daniel Keeton in Prairie Grove.

Brayden worked at branches in northwest Arkansas.

“I visited a farm to do a chattel inspection and met a man who had farmed all of his life and he shared how he ended up with Farm Credit,” Brayden said.

He’d farmed in northeast Arkansas and used a bank he loved during that time. After many years, the bank closed and he was forced to move his business. He struggled to find a lender he truly saw eye-to-eye with. Eventually, he found himself in northwest Arkansas where he, once again, wasn’t happy with what local banks had to offer.

Then, he stepped into a Farm Credit office and the phrase he used to describe it was one that stuck with Brayden all summer. He said, “It felt like home”. Brayden said he had never thought of a loan office being described that way but the more he thought about it, that is the Farm Credit difference.

“It made me appreciate the fact that Farm Credit is about building long-term relationships,” Brayden finished.

Brayden at a customer farm in northwest Arkansas.

As I made my way around the southwest region of the state, I was never quite sure what a farm visit would entail. Most farmers were interested in not just who I was but where I was from, what college I attended and my future plans. I met a gentleman who, like me, had attended Southern Arkansas University. He shared the path he took after college, the things he learned and what he regrets. He had learned a lot through the years and wanted to encourage me as I finish my ag education, but also to help me avoid some of the mistakes he had made. He was not just generous with wisdom, but also with the fresh vegetables from the garden he and his wife tended. They sent me home with a bag full of goodies.

As Brayden mentioned, this is the Farm Credit difference! It was not each of us who began the trusted relationship with these customers - it was the consistency of the employees and association, and the culture they operate within, that these farmers loved doing business with for so many years.

Ashlyn working with Regional Vice Presdient Denise Sweat in Nashville.

Baxter, Brayden and I are grateful for this opportunity and want to say a huge thank you to Farm Credit of Western Arkansas employees, as well as customers, for a summer to remember!