Zane Mrozla-Mindrup – Nebraska Corn Board – Lincoln, Nebraska

June Update

I thought I’d start this reflection on my first month at Nebraska Corn Board with a confession. I must admit when I first started in the office, I thought that my background in Nebraska agriculture and several years studying the industry on UNL’s East Campus would leave little in the way of surprises for my first couple weeks. After all I have seen corn virtually every day of my life, it grows under pivot between April and October after which it goes into a silo or gets trucked to an elevator, from there becoming feed for livestock and fuel for vehicles, and that’s the end of it, or so I figured. In a very short time working with the research and market development teams at NCB, I was quickly exposed to a variety of professionals and experiences that have delivered an ever-evolving crash course in the ever-expanding universe of corn use and demand.

Giving an FBI Agent my name and job description was not something I envisioned when I applied to an internship with Nebraska Corn. At least not unless something had gone very, very wrong. However, this was a reality three weeks in as I participated in a meeting with the Omaha Field Office, led by Director of Stewardship and Innovation Rachael Whitehair, to discuss an Agricultural Threats Symposium for Nebraska farmers. Perhaps just as frightening for an undergraduate student, but also just as fascinating, was sitting across the table from a meeting with UNL’s Agricultural Economics Department to discuss research partnerships. Engaging with professors whom I had taken classes with and hearing their ideas for future projects was as surreal as it was rewarding. They were not the only UNL team I had the pleasure of speaking with though and a visit to Nebraska Innovation Campus brought me to the lab of Dr. Ozan Ciftci, a leading light in American food engineering research whose fascinating work with corn-derived products has the potential to unlock major new uses for Nebraska’s number one crop.

While the Nebraska State Office at Fallbrook, where we are located, is a beautiful campus, I do believe my most enjoyable experiences this summer have been out-of-office experiences engaging with growers and stakeholders across Nebraska. My first trip in the ultra-stylish Nebraska Corn van was to Henderson, NE, and the farm of Nebraska Corn Research Committee Co-Chair Jason Lewis. Here, NCB worked with Saturn’s Lens Media to assemble a video for dissemination to Nebraska Corn’s international partners to further stimulate foreign trade potential. My next outing brought me to a lunch and learn with growers and industry in Giltner, NE. Among the attendees was the co-founder of French ag start-up Thalya, who had travelled all the way from Paris to learn directly from growers about farming in Nebraska. We helped answer his questions with trips to growers’ farms near Giltner and Litchfield, NE, nearly halfway across the state. My travel is far from over though and most recently, I got a sneak peek at UNL’s state-of-the-art Klosterman Feedlot Innovation Center associated with the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension, and Education Center near Mead, NE where University of Nebraska faculty and extension professionals are carrying out world-leading research, some with the direct assistance of Corn Board research grants.

All in all, I have had an incredibly rewarding, and insightful, first month with NCB and I know that I will continue to enjoy my work with Nebraska corn, with the team in the office, with stakeholders in the community, and with growers in the field, as the summer continues to fly by. Thank you for your support!