After my long drive from Texas to Washington, D.C., I got settled into my apartment and found the location of my office. I will be working at the National Association of Wheat Growers or NAWG for short. My official start date is 5/28/19 and official end date is 8/9/19. Work consists of an approximately 36-hour work week. This internship will provide me with policy experience within the federal government from an agricultural viewpoint. Animal science will always need strong advocates to represent them to people of power, and why not have one of their own doing so. This first week was a good start to learning the ropes of the office.

Currently, I am working on a blog series over advancements in gene editing and technology that is being used in the wheat industry. I was originally assigned one blog post, but my supervisor liked my first post so much that they wanted to turn it into a blog series. My first blog post is currently available on the National Wheat Foundation website and the rest of my posts will be found there soon. The History of Wheat and Its Future is the first entry in my blog series.

NAWG’s CEO, Chandler Goule, assigned me to research General Mills and know all aspects of their company. I needed to find out what companies they own and other points of interest. All the information I found was compiled into a memo that was sent him.

My supervisor assigned me a task of pulling together a district map of the U.S. outlining republican and democrat districts. Additionally, I was tasked with finding out the breakup of democrats, republicans, and freshman within the house.

My local newspaper, Cleburne Times Review, contacted me to do a story for their newspaper. They asked me about my internship, plans after college, and how my participation in FFA has helped me during my internship.

This internship has provided me with an amazing opportunity to understand the inner-workings of a business. I have enjoyed the tasks and projects given to me. Sometimes they are difficult due to lack of information available to me, but I will normally figure out a solution. I look forward to the days ahead and I appreciate all that I am learning. I am still unsure if the government life is for me, but I do know that I am acquiring a great experience through this internship.

At the National Association of Wheat Growers, I am working on a blog series covering the advancements of the wheat industry through gene editing and technology. The goal of this 5 part blog series is to provide a means of educating lawmakers and the public about gene editing and technology as it pertains to agriculture. My second blog post of the series covers the Science Behind Gene Editing to provide a general breakdown of how this technology works.

Furthermore, I am also working on creating a collection of wheat grower producer profiles from across the United States. My first profile contained an interview of NAWGs president Ben Scholz. I highlighted Ben's management practices and usage of crop protection materials.

Through NAWG, I have been tasked with obtaining the signatures of the chairmen and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and the House Agriculture Committee on a copy of the 2018 Farm Bill. I was able to get in contact with each senator's and representative's office for meeting. I have already met and obtained Congressman Conaway's signature.

These past two weeks, I have listened to and taken notes on many hearings for the House and Senate. From my notes I created memo's to inform the rest of the office on specific points of interest made during a given hearing.

These past two weeks have been extremely interesting and full of many interesting encounters with people high up in our government. I look forward to what this internship will have in store for me!

On Monday June 25th, the National Wheat Foundation held a congressional wheat farm tour to Poolesville, Maryland. There a wheat farmer by the name of Eric Spates showed us around his farm and facilities where he explained his different management practices and the importance of different crop protection materials governmental policies for the wheat industry. Experiencing East-coast wheat farming allowed for the congressional staff and myself to understand the importance of this industries management practices. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's RMA, NRCS, and FSA spoke about each agencies role in agriculture and farm policy. This was an extremely fun and neat trip to a wheat farm!

I attended the Texas Tuesday Coffee with Senator Ted Cruz at the Russell Senate Office Building. It was very neat to receive this opportunity and meet my United States Senator for Texas.

This week I have made my Producer Profile on Ben Scholz into a final draft. I have submitted it to the NAWG policy team for review and feedback. Hopefully, soon I can continue to make more profiles on other wheat growers and their management practices, in the near future. These profiles are meant to be used for a blog series and "one-pagers" that can be used on the Hill. The goal is to provide the public and the government with real-life stories of farmers who need/use crop protection materials and what they can mean for the environment.

Stephanie Webb is the Director of Policy Internship Programs at Texas A&M University. Each term, she travels to host offices to evaluate and see how the interns are doing. Additionally, Stephanie hosts a social hour to catch up with the interns and provide a fun interactive environment for the interns to share about their experiences. Stephanie came to the NAWG office and was able to speak to my supervisor, Craig Berning, and the NAWG CEO, Chandler Goule. This meeting was very productive and allowed me to share about my internship experiences.

I attended the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Congressional Reception in the Hart Senate Office Building. There I was able to meet some very interesting people and network. Some of the people that I met was Skylar Sowder who is the Legislative Assistant for Senator John Boozman of Arkansas and Kyle Varner who is the Professional Staff for the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. This was a very enjoyable reception where I quickly went to networking and expanding my Aggie Network.

Sadly, I was unable to meet Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow personally to sign the NAWG copies of the 2018 Farm Bill. However, I was able to meet some of their staff members and leave the copies with them to obtain at a later date. Senator Roberts is the Chairman and Senator Stabenow is the Ranking Member of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. I hope to find some events, in the near future, where I can personally meet these amazing senators.

Through the D.C. Aggies Club, I was assigned an Aggie mentor during my time here in Washington, D.C. My mentor, Rebecca Mundy, was very nice and sociable. We talked over coffee at Detour Coffee in Arlington, Virginia, and I look forward to meeting her again in the near future.

I met Skylar Sowder, the Legislative Assistant for Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, for coffee in the Hart Senate Office Building. A Texas Tech graduate and native Texan, we quickly found many things in common. I greatly enjoyed learning her perspective about living and working in D.C. She is a great connection and has many Aggie friends that she plans to introduce me to. I look forward to us meeting again in the future.

This has been a fun and impactful past few weeks at my internship! I have met difficulties, successes, and have experienced many learning experiences. All I know, is to learn and absorb information from each and every one of my experiences, and then use them in finding my career path. I look forward to what the rest of my internship will provide!

Below, I have provided pictures from the National Wheat Foundation Congressional Wheat Farm Tour. This was an extremely fun event that allowed me to see and experience an East-coast wheat farm. Eric Spates' farm in Poolesville, Maryland, was extremely beautiful and Eric provided a very informative tour. Feel free to check out my farm tour pictures below.

Upon returning to work on Monday July the 8th, I immediately had a meeting scheduled with Kaitlynn Glover to talk about captive deer farming and management. Kaitlynn Glover is the Legislative Assistant for Senator Barrasso of Wyoming, and I first met her at USGS Chronic Wasting Disease: Status, Science, and Management Support event where she requested a meeting with me. In Senator Barrasso's office she asked many questions about the deer farming industry and management practices it utilizes. Coming from a beef cattle background, Kaitlynn wanted to gain a better understanding of the industry to utilize in CWD legislation.

On Tuesday July the 9th, I spoke with Bryan Richards for an hour and a half regarding chronic wasting disease and deer management practices. This conversation was helpful in gaining a better understanding of how to manage the spread of disease and to instill better management practices on my own farm. Bryan Richards is an Emerging Disease Coordinator for the United States Geological Survey.

One of my projects, that I am currently working on, is creating a "Producer Profile" on different wheat growers across the United States. Currently, I have a profile on Ben Scholz which is getting reviewed by our policy team. Additionally, I am scheduling an interview with Dave Milligan and Nicole Berg to create a producer profile over these two individual wheat growers.

Arranged and met with Rick Mertens, Brad Weddelman, and John Porter for coffee. Rick Mertens is the Associate Director for Agriculture and Natural Resources at the Texas A&M University Federal Relations Office. Brad Weddelman works for Combest, Sell and Associates which is an ag lobbying firm in D.C. and Lubbock, TX. John Porter is Representative Brady's Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director that graduated from Texas A&M University with an animal science degree. By meeting with these three individuals, I expanded my Aggie network and made some great connections. Both Rick and John advised me to meet with a few individuals here in D.C. that have a similar background to myself.

Attended meetings at the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to clarify some issues that different wheat growers have with the current status quo.

My most recent project, assigned to me by the National Association of Wheat Growers, is to create the 2019 August Recess Packet for our policy team. The packet is made to cover main issues pertaining to the wheat industry and address them during the August recess. It possesses up to date information about the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill, current trade situations, and the most notable presidential candidates plans for rural America. The goal of the packet is to provide producers with up to date information and issues that they can ask their Congressional Offices while on recess about their plans to address these issues. Additionally, the packet includes social media templates that wheat producers can utilize to bring attention to these issues.

At the National Association of Wheat Growers, I am working on a blog series covering the advancements of the wheat industry through gene editing and technology. The goal of this 5 part blog series is to provide a means of educating lawmakers and the public about gene editing and technology as it pertains to agriculture. My third blog post of the series covers how Wheat Could Soon be Gluten Free through Gene Editing technology.

Lastly, I was able to receive a signature on NAWG's copies of the 2018 Farm Bill from Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow. I am still working on receiving a signature from Representative Peterson before the August recess. I should be able to drop off the 2018 Farm Bill copies soon and pick them up the week of July 22nd.

This week has posed some struggles and successes, but each experience has provided me with greater experience, problem solving skills, and more knowledge. I have enjoyed the people I have met and networks gained these past 2 weeks. I look forward to future endeavors once I get closer to the end of my internship.

One of my tasks this Summer was to have the Ag leaders in the House and Senate sign the National Association of Wheat Growers Copies of the 2018 Farm Bill. Sadly, I was unable to obtain Congressman Peterson's signature before the August Recess. I was told to leave it in the House Ag Committee room for him to sign it, but due to one of his staff he never received it. It is disappointing that I was unable to obtain his signature's, but I know I tried my hardest to obtain them.

NAWGs Environmental Policy Advisor, Keira Franz, asked me to do an analysis of what pesticides chemicals are currently used on wheat in the U.S. and compare them to pesticide chemicals currently under review or restricted/banned in the European Union. This document was used to inform our producers that if they use these pesticide chemicals, to possibly search for alternatives to keep access to the EU market.

This week I continued to work on NAWGs 2019 August Recess Packet and added points on sustainability before sending it out to the rest of the staff for review. I also made a spreadsheet containing specific congress-members of interest with their Ag Legislative Assistants contact information as well as a draft email to be sent to their congress-members office. NAWG staff has looked over the packet and it has now been sent out to NAWG members across the United States.

NAWG also had me make calls to our State Executives and Board Members, attend the Crop Insurance Caucus Briefing, make blurbs for news stories of the week, as well as develop gift ideas for special guests to one of our events. Additionally, I created a map of NAWGs membership in the United States.

The past two weeks, I attended several intern socials. I attended the Syngenta Lunch and Learn intern social where I learned more about PACs and the limitations they have. Additionally, I attended the CropLife America AgVocate Workshop where I learned more about communicating with members of the public about agriculture. The workshop provided a means of educating the public in a calm way. Lastly, I attended the Agri-Pulse Communications Lunch and Learn where they talked to us in a more casual way about how they receive their information and how they go about reporting it. The lunch was an interesting look into an important agriculture informant.

Brian Lenin testified on behalf of the National Association of Wheat Growers on the importance of reauthorizing the Grain Standards Act to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. I attended this hearing and listened in on the conversations and testimonies that took place.

Lastly, I continued work on my fourth blog post entry covering how gene editing can decrease our reliance on pesticides and fertilizers. This fourth blog post entry is currently under review by NAWGs communications department.

The past two weeks have been fun, rewarding, and full of many experiences, but they did have some challenges. Nevertheless, these challenges did not stop my drive to get the tasks at hand done. This has been an amazing experience and I greatly appreciate NAWG for taking me in this Summer. I look forward to my final week at NAWG.