Catherine Cincotta in her commercial test corn field at Growmark’s facility in Easthampton, NJ, in July 2016.
Plant biology major Catherine Cincotta (SEBS’17) completed a 12-week paid summer internship with industry giant Growmark, Inc., an agricultural inputs supplier and farm cooperative with an estimated $8.9 billion in annual sales. Her internship, a full-time summer experience, was at Growmark’s distribution facility located in Easthampton, New Jersey, in her home county of Burlington.
In August, Cincotta was one of 60 leading college students of agriculture from around the U.S. and Canada invited by Growmark to its headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. There, she presented the results of her internship project, “Countin Corn: Every 12 Hours,” which focused on amendments that might improve corn emergence under adverse, cold spring conditions.
Catherine Cincotta with her internship advisor Jack Rabin, associate director of Farm Programs, NJAES, at Growmark headquarters in Bloomington, IL.
Cincotta, who is pursuing the horticulture and turf industry option within her major, and the other 59 interns were invited during the early summer by Growmark to visit Wrigley Field, the home playing field of the Chicago Cubs and a Growmark customer, to learn about fine turf sports field management.
As a result of this internship, Cincotta has gained additional agribusiness, leadership and industry experience that will undoubtedly better prepare her for the plant biology curriculum as well as add to her career options upon graduation from Rutgers.
Growmark has offered this internship opportunity to agriculture students at participating North American institutions for more than 50 years.
