USDA AgDiscovery: an Internship Experience
Sept. 3, 2024
An ABEM student takes on a summer internship with USDA and UArizona Yuma, mentoring 18 high school students from across the U.S. to discover careers in agribusiness, agricultural engineering, agsystems management, veterinary medicine, etc.
Anvar Sanaev, junior, pursuing AREC’s Agribusiness Economics and Management (ABEM) major, announced the completion of his 2024 summer internship with USDA’s AgDiscovery, “Investing in the Future of American Agriculture.” With the support and encouragement from AREC’s very own, Professor Na Zuo, Anvar rightfully took this opportunity and excelled. Read about his experience with this summer internship here!
Anvar first discovered this summer internship as he was on the AREC Supply Chain Tour in April 2024, when the group was introduced to Dustin C. Sandberg, a USDA plant pathologist at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port of entry in Nogales, AZ. Sandberg introduced the summer internship to the group and Anvar displayed immediate interest since it would be a local internship in Arizona, and he would be networking with the USDA and UA Yuma. With support from the department and with Anvar’s keen interest, he applied for the position and was accepted as an AgDiscovery intern.
Starting in late May 2024, Anvar joined the AgDiscovery team and visited several companies in the agribusiness sector such as Bayer, Condor Seed Production Inc., Humane Society of Yuma, and B&G Foods Inc. Anvar mentioned these visiting tours gave, “insights into their manufacturing processes and conducting research with the USDA.”
In mid-June, the team welcomed 18 high students from all over the U.S. for the program, offering mentorship. With Anvar’s support, the participants explored their interests in agribusiness, agricultural engineering, ag-systems management, veterinary medicine, and much more. Anvar explained, “It was a lovely experience as we were a group of six interns and also had other reliance and support from the USDA [team].”
Following the AgDiscovery camp end, Anvar supported the USDA team in creating tables and visual graphs to analyze trends of the fiscal year statistics. Anvar shared regarding the processes that occur at the port of entry, “It is an interesting and massive process, as the total value of exports and imports through Nogales [was] valued to be more than $28 billion in 2022.”
In a LinkedIn post following the completion of the USDA AgDiscovery internship, Anvar shared his gratitude to the people involved in introducing him to this opportunity and to those who supported him throughout it. He finished the post with, “This experience has greatly enhanced my understanding of the agricultural industry and its critical role in international trade, while also contributing to the development of future leaders in this field.”
For AREC students who are looking for internship opportunities, or soon to be on the search, Anvar left this message, “I would tell everybody, including myself, to keep trying hard to achieve the results and dreams they want. Every opportunity, every event, and every activity can turn out to be the one with the greatest outcome. So, my advice would be to make use of every opportunity the university and CALES have to offer for its students.”
