Meet the interns who supported our Commercial group this summer

Published: Oct 10, 2023

Four students recently wrapped up their internships with Nutrien’s Wholesale teams, where they had the opportunity to learn what goes on at the world’s largest fertilizer manufacturer.

“Our internship program allows college and university undergraduates, located in Canada and the US, to learn about our Wholesale business,” says Karl Wyant, Director of Agronomy. “The four interns we had this summer were excellent additions to our Commercial group, and I’m excited for the program to continue its momentum.”

Through Internships, Co-ops and Early Career programs, students and new grads can gain valuable experience and progress their careers.

“The Wholesale interns help with a number of projects from learning about customer experience to updating market data, looking at historical sales data and organizing customer profiles for new team members and meetings,” says Kelly Davey, Senior Director, Ag Central. “The interns get to visit a nitrogen plant and phosphate and potash mine, in addition to meeting with fertilizer, feed and industrial customers. Having sales interns also provides an opportunity to some of our sales managers to develop their leadership skills by overseeing the interns during the summer.”

Emily Donald | Saskatoon, SK

Emily is a familiar face to the internship program – last summer she worked with the Industrial Nitrogen Sales team and this year she returned to support the Ag Canada Sales team.

“Emily’s previous experience was put to good use this summer,” says Brad Boehm, Senior National Sales Manager, Canada. “She led various projects that helped us execute sales more efficiently. Emily was such a big help, and I really appreciated the opportunity to take a hands-on role in working with her.”

Pursuing crop science and ag business at the University of Saskatchewan made Emily initially hesitant about applying for a sales role, but she describes her internships as the best experiences – “I’ve learned so much, and everyone was willing to help me along the way.”

One of the biggest projects that Emily took on this summer was working closely with the Agronomy team on The Dirt: an eKonomics podKast. She helped get the show credited by the American Society of Agronomy to allow Certified Crop Advisors to apply points to their license requirements by listening to and engaging with episodes. She also had the opportunity to co-host an episode about deep soil testing. “Co-hosting The Dirt with Mike Howell was an awesome experience,” says Emily. “I developed the questions that we asked our guests and worked with AdFarm and Studio 46. I was able to be part of the start-to-finish process and see all the work that goes into creating each episode every week.”

Luke Millay | Morehead, KY

Luke joined the teams at our Chicago Sales Office this summer to focus on Nutrien’s Agronomy, Industrial and Feed sectors. To complement his undergraduate studies in agribusiness at Morehead State University, he was assigned various projects including collecting and analyzing data and trends of livestock, market share and gross capacity, production and consumption of ammonia.

“I had the privilege of contributing to a variety of groups including Sales, Customer Experience, Product Management and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics,” he says. “I also had the opportunity to learn business strategy from each of these teams, and how they follow the behaviors and actions of Nutrien’s Culture of Care – lead, collaborate, challenge and trust – to enhance productivity.”

During his internship, Luke travelled across North America to visit some of our mine sites and production facilities, as well as interact with key customers. This experience taught him the ins and outs of Nutrien’s products and business, which he notes as an important takeaway for being an effective salesperson.

“Helping lead interns like Luke this summer, in coordination with Megan Lynch, was a real joy,” says Ethan Brock, National Sales Manager, Ag East. “The interns joined our weekly sales calls, and by the end of the summer, were contributing to them in many different forms.”

Natalie Ott | Ames, IA

Joining Luke at the Chicago Sales Office was Natalie, who is pursuing a degree in agricultural business at Iowa State University, focusing primarily on economics and marketing changes. During her internship, she supported the teams in Nutrien’s Industrial and Feed sectors and had the opportunity to meet many customers and do some travelling.

“I developed professional and personal connections with a variety of customers, and the amount of networking I did within the industry was crucial to my development over the summer,” she says. “It was also incredibly eye opening to visit some of our Nitrogen and Phosphate facilities. To be able to see the scale of these operations firsthand allowed me to better understand the products we talk about daily.”

Some of Natalie’s main responsibilities included working on market share projects for Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), gathering rail rates for Ag East and learning more about Customer Experience by shadowing the team. She describes the projects she worked on as “vast and developmental,” and this experience furthered her interest in pursuing a sales career in the ag industry upon graduation.

“Natalie and Luke took accountability for their projects and completed them in a timely manner,” says Ethan. “Overall, this was a great experience for everyone. I believe we all learned a lot, and I look forward to seeing what the future has in-store for this program.”

Owen Graf | Calgary, AB

Like Emily, Owen had the opportunity to support the Ag Canada Sales team this summer. Studying commerce and economics at the University of Calgary aligned with his responsibilities of analyzing and manipulating data and creating customized reports and maps for sales managers. He also spent three weeks alongside the Customer Experience team to learn how they work in collaboration with Sales and many other areas of the business and customers.

“I liked the collaborative work environment at Nutrien, as many teams would work together daily to achieve a common goal,” says Owen. “Meeting a lot of friendly faces helped me create connections and gave me a good idea of different aspects of the business.”

Another highlight for Owen was travelling across North America to visit many different locations, including the Nutrien Bath Lodge, Aurora Phosphate facility and Lanigan Potash mine.

“Owen was a welcome addition to our team this summer,” says Cara Klassen, Analyst, Sales Canada. “He tackled a variety of projects on his own, and his self-starter attitude faired him well in this fast-paced environment. He assisted many sales managers with running historical data, worked quickly and efficiently, and was eager to learn about all the complex components that make up our company.”