Iowa State University

Senior Spotlight: Madeleine Bretey

Meet our next senior, Madeleine Bretey!

Madeleine will be graduating this spring and beginning her job as a County Youth/Agriculture Program Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension.

During her time at Iowa State, Madeleine said her favorite class was Agron 463 Soil Formations and Landscapes with Dr. Burras.

"Enjoy your last days as a student. Enjoy your breaks, and enjoy your family and friends. School is great, but don't be afraid to put effort into your life experiences and relationships as well," said Madeleine.

Thank you, Madeleine! Good luck on your future endeavors!

Crops Team Update

Fall 2019 – Coaches Mindy DeVries and Assistant Coach Andrew Blomme

Regional Contest – October 11th in Ames, IA hosted by ISU

Participants: Ted Hilgerson (Team), Hannah Holdsworth (Team), Ben Kolbe (Team) and Wyatt Westfall (Individual)

-2nd Place Team Overall

-5th Place Individual Overall – Ben Kolbe

Collegiate Crops Contest – November 19th in Kansas City, Missouri

Participants: Ted Hilgerson (Team), Hannah Holdsworth (Team), Ben Kolbe (Team) and Wyatt Westfall (Individual)

-3rd Place Team Overall

-8th Place Individual Overall – Ben Kolbe

3rd Place Individual (Tie) Grain Grading – All-American
6th Place Individual Identification

-9th Place Individual Overall – Ted Hilgerson

Recipient of the 2019 C. R. Weber Award for Excellence in Plant Breeding

Matthew Breitzman is originally from Stillwater, MN. Spending time on his Grandpa and Uncles’ farm when growing up gave him a strong interest in agriculture. This background in agriculture led him to obtain his B.S.

Summer Internship: Marjorie Hanneman

Junior in agronomy Marjorie Hanneman spent her summer working for Bayer Crop Science in Ankeny, Iowa at the high throughput genotyping facility as the Molecular Breeding Intern.

On a daily basis, Marjorie utilized lab robots to conduct real time PCR on a variety of crops and genetic traits. The project she worked on focused on testing and validating new master mix for quality and efficiency across crops, markers, and traits. She also used automated machinery to complete her daily activities as well as data collection and analysis.

"My favorite part of my internship was being able to complete lab work at such a large scale. I was able to work with about 15 different crops and learn how to manage huge data sets and design experiments. I also enjoyed working with state of the art machinery and robots and being at the forefront of biotechnology," Marjorie said.

When in Rome...

Taylor Berkshire is a senior majoring ing Agronomy, Environmental Science and international Agriculture.

A little bit of everything with Heartland Coop

Alyssa Dean is a Junior in Agronomy and Agricultural Business.

This past summer, Alyssa worked for Heartland Coop in Treynor, Iowa and Henderson, Iowa as a crop scout/sales intern.

To this point, Alyssa has did a little bit of everything with her internship. She tissue sampled, hauled chemicals, scouted fields, set plot signs and met with growers. Alyssa said that “I was always busy doing something; there is never a dull moment during the work day. “

Using GIS/GPS with industry trials at DuPont Pioneer

Josh Behnke is a Senior in Agronomy

He has been an Agronomy Club member for 3 years

This summer, Josh was located in Northeast Iowa, based out of Dubuque for DuPont Pioneer. His title was Northeast Iowa Agronomy Sales Intern; he worked with the “Pioneer field agronomists to help with service calls, population trials, new product plot evaluations/data as well as customer and sales rep relations”.

A summer with the Iowa Soybean Association - Adam Guy

Adam Guy is a Senior in Agronomy with a minor in Agricultural Business

Adam has been heavily involved with Agronomy Club. He is currently serving as the club’s treasurer. In the past served as our CALS council representative and social chair. He has helped at popcorn and doughnut sales, 4-H experience agronomy and attending fun club social events.

Over the summer, Adam worked for the Iowa Soybean Association located in Ankeny, Iowa. When asked what his role is this summer he responded with “My role within the Iowa Soybean Association is working with the on-farm network to collect research data from on farm trials across the state of Iowa. Then I analyze the data collected and use it to correlate the results.”

Feucht spends his summer as an agronomy intern for DuPont Pioneer

Daniel Feucht is a Senior in Agronomy.

Daniel has been an Agronomy Club member for two years.

This past summer, Daniel worked for DuPont Pioneer as an agronomy intern covering Northern Illinois. He started out his summer with the responsibility of crop scouting plots.

Daniel said, “I have filled the remainder of the time participating in summer crop meetings with sales reps, working on my project and monitoring corn rootworm levels. My project was looking at the effects of different soybean seed treatments on root development."

When asked what he was most excited to learn about/do, Daniel said, “It has been an awesome experience to meet and interact with the Pioneer Sales team as well as Northern Illinois farmers”.