Howdy Ags,

I am currently looking for opportunities in Ag Lending (Credit Analyst or Loan Officer), Environmental Health and Safety or Ag Sales. A few companies that spark my interest are Capital Farm Credit, Texas Farm Credit, JBS, Pilgrims, Cargill, Sanderson Farms and Land O' Lakes but I am very open to other companies and relocating for an opportunity.

I am in my last semester of graduate school and have been in the process of finding an entry level position. I received a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M in Agricultural Business. My undergraduate degree consisted of courses in the Mays Business School (Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing and Supply Chain Management) as well as courses in the College of Ag and Life Sciences (Ag Economics, Ag Business, Ag Sales and Animal Science). I am graduating this May with a Master's in Sustainable Agriculture. My time in graduate school has provided me with valuable information about agribusiness practices, the sustainable agriculture movement, alternative agriculture enterprises and food safety.

Currently, I work in the business office at the Texas A&M Vet School. I have been able to gain clerical knowledge, customer service and accounts payable (billing) experience. Previous employment has been in Sales.

I have a meeting scheduled this week to speak with Paul A. Pausky '78 with the Former Student Career Center at Texas A&M about career opportunities.

Any advice, opportunities or connections would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Gig 'Em
Thomas J. '16

Quote:

---

I am currently looking for opportunities in Ag Lending (Credit Analyst or Loan Officer), Environmental Health and Safety or Ag Sales. A few companies that spark my interest are Capital Farm Credit, Texas Farm Credit, JBS, Pilgrims, Cargill, Sanderson Farms and Land O' Lakes but I am very open to other companies and relocating for an opportunity.

---

Some .02 here from a poultry guy.

JBS/Pilgrims - Still owned by the Brazilians. Though Pilgrims was spun off, lots of dictating from Brazil still happens and it reaches deep. Processed food sales can be ok, but it is a grind and you spend more time in an office on the phone than anything.

Sanderson - Same as JBS/Pilgrims with processing sales. Sanderson is one of the worst industry offenders when it comes to chewing up people and spitting them out. They use A&M like a revolving door for employees in the B/CS and Waco complexes. The new one in East Texas won't be any better. SOOOOO much nepotism running through the head office in Laurel too. If you see a "bus" coming, be prepared to be the one thrown under it.

Cargill - Great company and doing a lot of work on their additives division with Provimi. Some good Ags that work their too. I don't know much about their processing side because I hated turkey rearing. I stuck with broilers, pullets, and broiler breeders. Corporate structure can be a bit difficult to navigate. If you get the right mentor, you can have an amazing career there. People tend to either hang around for 2-3 years to get experience and then spread their wings or work their way up. Either one is good. People in the industry recognize Cargill of creating good employees.

LOL/Purina/PMI - Pretty good company. They have a pretty good training program for new employees and really put an emphasis on work/life balance and trying to make their employees better people. They've always got some sales positions open. A lot of them are satellite based if you'd like to work from home and be a road warrior. PMI is their additives division that is still trying to find their identity as to what they're doing.

Other companies to look into:

Merck
Zoetis
Boehringer Ingelheim
Tyson
Elanco

IrishTxAggie said:

---

Quote:

---

I am currently looking for opportunities in Ag Lending (Credit Analyst or Loan Officer), Environmental Health and Safety or Ag Sales. A few companies that spark my interest are Capital Farm Credit, Texas Farm Credit, JBS, Pilgrims, Cargill, Sanderson Farms and Land O' Lakes but I am very open to other companies and relocating for an opportunity.

---

Some .02 here from a poultry guy.

JBS/Pilgrims - Still owned by the Brazilians. Though Pilgrims was spun off, lots of dictating from Brazil still happens and it reaches deep. Processed food sales can be ok, but it is a grind and you spend more time in an office on the phone than anything.

Sanderson - Same as JBS/Pilgrims with processing sales. Sanderson is one of the worst industry offenders when it comes to chewing up people and spitting them out. They use A&M like a revolving door for employees in the B/CS and Waco complexes. The new one in East Texas won't be any better. SOOOOO much nepotism running through the head office in Laurel too. If you see a "bus" coming, be prepared to be the one thrown under it.

Cargill - Great company and doing a lot of work on their additives division with Provimi. Some good Ags that work their too. I don't know much about their processing side because I hated turkey rearing. I stuck with broilers, pullets, and broiler breeders. Corporate structure can be a bit difficult to navigate. If you get the right mentor, you can have an amazing career there. People tend to either hang around for 2-3 years to get experience and then spread their wings or work their way up. Either one is good. People in the industry recognize Cargill of creating good employees.

LOL/Purina/PMI - Pretty good company. They have a pretty good training program for new employees and really put an emphasis on work/life balance and trying to make their employees better people. They've always got some sales positions open. A lot of them are satellite based if you'd like to work from home and be a road warrior. PMI is their additives division that is still trying to find their identity as to what they're doing.

Other companies to look into:

Merck
Zoetis
Boehringer Ingelheim
Tyson
Elanco

---

IrishTxAggie,

Thank you very much for all of this information, I greatly appreciate it. I will definitely look into the other companies you listed.

-Thomas

ADM and Wilbur Ellis are two other ones to check out.

I sure will! Thank you again.

-Thomas

IrishTxAggie said:

---

ADM and Wilbur Ellis are two other ones to check out.

---

I would be weary of Wilbur Ellis. They've have suddenly closed few locations in my area. The locations had been struggling but the closings were unexpected and fired all employees on the spot. It might just be Wilbur Ellis trying to tighten things up or it might be a sign of bad things to come. It is just a pretty tough time in Ag Sales period with the current commodity level prices.

Do you have a certain area of the state you are looking?

Codes12 said:

---

IrishTxAggie said:

---

ADM and Wilbur Ellis are two other ones to check out.

---

I would be weary of Wilbur Ellis. They've have suddenly closed few locations in my area. The locations had been struggling but the closings were unexpected and fired all employees on the spot. It might just be Wilbur Ellis trying to tighten things up or it might be a sign of bad things to come. It is just a pretty tough time in Ag Sales period with the current commodity level prices.

Do you have a certain area of the state you are looking?

---

I know why they did it. From what I was told, It was a strategic move from what I've heard from the inside. They're looking to streamline and move more towards value added and products that they can put margin into in their animal nutrition.

Thank you very much for the compliment, I really appreciate it.

Gig 'Em,

Thomas

Codes12,

Thank you very much for your response and the advice you've given, I greatly appreciate it. My preferences in Texas, if I were to list any would be Central, South or East. I am currently in College Station but very open to relocation, even out of state.

Gig 'Em,

Thomas

I highly recommend working in Farm Credit. If you're not opposed to relocating, I'd look at CoBank or AgFirst Farm Credit Bank. Another good place to look is with our regulator, the Farm Credit Administration.

I've been with Farm Credit for over 8 years and in baking for nearly 14, and I couldn't see myself ever going back to commercial banking. Great people and environment, and we get to work in one of the most important sectors to the stability of our country, agriculture.

dsvogel05 said:

---

I highly recommend working in Farm Credit. If you're not opposed to relocating, I'd look at CoBank or AgFirst Farm Credit Bank. Another good place to look is with our regulator, the Farm Credit Administration.

I've been with Farm Credit for over 8 years and in baking for nearly 14, and I couldn't see myself ever going back to commercial banking. Great people and environment, and we get to work in one of the most important sectors to the stability of our country, agriculture.

---

dsvogel05,

Thank you very much for your advice, I greatly appreciate it. I have a meeting coming up with a SVP Relationship Manager with Capital Farm Credit. I have always heard great things about the Farm Credit System.

-Thomas

Avoid distributors right now (Wilbur Ellis, Helena, Pinnacle, etc) unless you view it as a short term option. That's where the big hurt is going on and likely will see the biggest squeeze in the next 18 months. Farmers are broke and the big suppliers are bypassing them to go straight to the farmer.

Be prepared to see a lot of very qualified former Monsanto/Bayer folks looking for jobs in the near future.

Focus on the finance and/or "supplier" side of the Ag market. Think: Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, FMC, various seed companies, American Plant Food, and several others. Ag1source is a good recruiter source.

Finally, if you are flexible and willing to put up with being run ragged look at the tech entries into the market. Indigo, Farm Business Network and other precision Ag firms. Lots of venture capital money from the big tech companies. Many of these companies are looking for business minded folks to get them rolling. Just know that their approach to Ag is as a market disrupter, and they will have some volatile times, but it's fun and a new approach.

The sustainable agriculture stuff will play well with the newer companies I mentioned, but honestly outside of California, or high value crop production, the Ag Sales guys just want to know if you know your agronomy/entomology/fertility. Its a good mindset for the future, but just keep those skill sets sharp.

Thomas

What is the best way to contact you over email? I would like to see your resume as I work for one of the companies you listed

KC kid

@ Irish - i've seen you post before about working in Additive & health space. Would be interested to talk and build my network. What's the best way to connect?

KC kid

You can reach me at the email address below. Might be awhile before I respond because I'm leaving for Asia today for two weeks.

stpaulaggie at yahoo dot com

fightingfarmer09,

Thank you very much for your advice, I greatly appreciate it. I will definitely keep all of your recommendations in mind.

-Thomas

KC kid,

Thank you very much for reaching out to me. My email is thomas.jackson2016@aggienetwork dot com. I look forward to speaking with you.

-Thomas

Hey Irish - using the context clues we met at IPPE!

We did?? Where?

St. Paul conversation ....otherwise it is just a random coincidence

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/research-technician-at-advanta-1168736274

Max06 said:

---

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/research-technician-at-advanta-1168736274

---

Thank you very much. I will look into this opportunity!

-Thomas

Tom Scholz said:

---

Look at

The Andersons Inc ( Maumee Ohio)

---

Thank you very much for reaching out to me. I will look into this company.

-Thomas

Howdy Ags,

I wanted to Thank You all again for responding to this post, I have had several great conversations and made valuable connections from this thread.

Over the past few weeks I have interviewed with Capital Farm Credit and Merck Animal Health. I am still in the interview process(2nd and 3rd rounds) but I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had advice or knew of any opportunities/connections.

Thank you all for your time, I greatly appreciate it,

Thomas J. '16

What's the position and scope within Merck? It's a huge company, so hard to direct you without knowing a little more.

Howdy Irish,

Thank you for reaching out to me. I have been interviewing for a Territory Representative position with the Animal Health division in Texas. Is it alright to reach out to you via email? Is st paul aggie @ yahoo still a good contact email?

Thanks again,

Thomas J. '16

Yes. Go ahead and shoot me an email.

Irish,

Email sent.

Thank you,

Thomas J. '16

Are you open to moving to pa or ca?