Potato Farm Agronomy Internship

Job Title: Agronomy Internship Potato IPM

Spring & Summer 2027

Employer: Sackett Potatoes – Michigan and Illinois

Locations: Mecosta, MI and St. Anne, Illinois

Job Type: Full-time, Paid Summer Internships

Growing Season: May 2027 - September 2027. 

Start and end dates are flexible with university academic calendars.

Pay Rate: Hourly Rate of $16.00.

Mileage is reimbursed for use of personal vehicle between potato fields at the rate of $0.725 per mile. All other equipment is provided.  Training is provided.

Job Duties: Work with farm agronomists to make treatment decisions based on thresholds, economics, weather and additional IPM centered factors. Collecting wheat population density, growth stage and disease data. Scouting potato and corn fields for weeds, insects and diseases. Majority of time is spent in the potato crop looking for Late Blight, Phytophthora infestans, and quantifying Colorado Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, pressure.

-Reporting all data into a mobile phone scouting app, farmQA.

-Collecting weekly potato petiole and soil samples for nitrate tracking and nutrient levels. The intern will help manage the sampling, paperwork and shipping samples every week.

-Soil sampling using GPS technology for nematode populations and soil health properties in potato fields. The interns will take the lead on the nematode tracking project. This includes collecting, keeping records, storing and transporting the samples to the university testing lab or personnel.

-Attending a scout classroom training day in Mecosta, Michigan.  Attending field training sessions with other interns in the area.

Job Requirements:

Applicants should be an enrolled college student or recent college graduate interested in plants, insects, plant disease, precision agriculture or farming as possible career interests.

Applicants must have:

- a reliable vehicle and valid Driver’s License.

- the physical ability to walk over potato hills for 8 or more hours each day.

- a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

- the physical ability to work outdoors in humid and warm summer weather.

- the availability to work long days when the team travels to our Illinois location 1-2 days a week.

Preferred Skills:

Work experience scouting potatoes or another crop.

Knowledge or college coursework in crop scouting, plant health, plant biology, soil science or botany.

Experience in agronomic pest identification such as weeds, insects and fungal pathogens.

Experience with some GPS technology or Precision Agriculture.

This agronomy internship offers an opportunity to learn about IPM practices in commercially grown chipping potatoes. There are many challenges in growing a healthy potato crop including harm from plant parasitic nematodes, insects and disease to the seed piece, stem, leaves or tubers. Interns receive extensive training and work closely with the agronomists.  It requires teamwork to make the best management decisions. The work is intense because potatoes are a complicated vegetable crop. Potato fields are scouted weekly.

Contact Casey Carr if interested.  Casey@SackettPotatoes.com  Call or text: (616) 824-1037.