Macy Cook

Thinking back over the past 8 weeks of my internship, I realize I have been exposed to countless opportunities that have allowed me to gain a myriad of new skills and knowledge. Many of these new skills and knowledge can be utilized to assist farmers and communities with adapting to economic and environmental challenges. One of the greatest economic and environmental challenges faced by farmers is loss of land to development. Each year, prime agricultural land is lost to solar and urban development at an unsustainable rate, especially on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This loss of land poses economic and environmental threats to surrounding farmland because it can lead to increased land prices and competition for land. These factors can impact farmers’ ability to acquire and maintain their land, while land development decreases the availability of productive farmland and degrades soil health.

July 16- Performing insect counts
on the kale plants for our
kale insect study at LESREC.

In my internship, I have worked a great deal with community outreach and education for the agriculture industry. Through these outreach opportunities, I have learned how to interact with people of all ages and backgrounds to inform them about the importance of the agriculture industry. This skill is very useful in protecting farmland from development, because it allows me to help the general public understand the long-term negative impact land development can have on farmland and their food sources. This consumer education can assist with decreasing land development as well as the economic and environmental challenges associated with development. Additionally, I have handled social media designs and posts during my internship, which has developed my marketing and social media literacy skills. These skills are very valuable in utilizing social media as a platform to spread awareness about economic and environmental challenges faced by farmers and making consumers aware of how they can assist with combating these challenges.

To say my current week has been filled with various tasks now simply seems normal, as I am beginning to understand what extension agents mean when they say, “no two days are ever the same.” A phrase I once did not understand, I now have full comprehension of as I have not had two similar days within my 8 weeks at the University of Maryland Extension. This week, I spent Monday at the Talbot County Extension office where I continued sorting and putting together data for the Winter Agronomy Meetings, watched our assigned pre-internship video on environmental stewardship practices on the Eastern Shore, and joined our weekly zoom connection where we had the pleasure of hearing from Holly Porter from the Delmarva Chicken Association. 

July 16- Hosting the Talbot County
4-H Ambassador Program.

On Tuesday, I continued putting together the Winter Meeting Data and began working on my presentation for our internship graduation. Wednesday was a very busy day that began at the Dorchester County Extension office. My mentor, Emily Zobel, and I traveled to LESREC to perform insect counts on the kale plants for our kale insect study and pick blackberries from the blackberry variety trial. Wednesday evening was the highlight of my week, when I hosted the Ambassador Program for our Talbot County 4-H Ambassadors. During this program, I greatly enjoyed conversing with the ambassadors and hearing about each of their interests and 4-H involvement. On Thursday, I continued my work on the curriculum for Agriculture Awareness Day at the Queen Anne’s County Extension office. Most of my time at the office was spent working specifically on curriculum for the food safety station and discussing a timeline for publication for the curriculum, while corresponding about questions and comments on the interview form that I had sent out the previous week. On Thursday afternoon and Friday, I designed images for sponsorship posts on the Talbot County Fair Facebook page. I was able to finish the images, put together the posts, and schedule them to post over the following week.

This internship and my tasks this week have furthered my passion for serving the agriculture industry in my future career. I have found great enjoyment in the diversity of work, field research, community and youth engagement, and curriculum writing process and have been left with excitement for the vast agricultural career opportunities that await me upon college graduation. As I conclude the eighth week of my internship, I am realizing that my summer really has embodied the phrase “no two days are ever the same,” and the daily diversity has been one of my favorite aspects of this internship!