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Highlights from the OSU Agribusiness Club’s End of Year Trip to St. Louis, Missouri

Jan. 14, 2013

This article was written by Nick Rettig, Sarah Peterson and Sierra Jepsen, Agribusiness Club members and AEDE undergraduate students

From December 12-15, 2012, in conjunction with Ohio State’s branch of the Collegiate Young Farmers, ten Ohio State Agribusiness Club members and the Club’s advisor, Barry Ward, travelled on their annual trip, embarking this year to St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis was chosen due to its close proximity to numerous agribusinesses and agricultural associations, which the group of students toured.

Some highlights from the trip include touring the Monsanto Research Facility, visiting Beck’s Hybrids headquarters, sampling chocolate at the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company, learning about the National Corn Growers Association, racing “horses” at Churchill Downs, and looking at the views from the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The students also toured Caito Foods and Anheuser-Busch, along with Consolidated Grain and Barge, and the American Soybean Association. The Club enjoyed local cuisine and other experiences unique to the St. Louis area, including supper at Jim Edmonds 15 Steakhouse and a night out at a murder mystery dinner theatre.

At Monsanto the students learned about genetic research and took a tour of the business, which highlighted Monsanto’s dedication to producing innovative genetically modified crops in addition to contributing to better agricultural management practices and techniques. Beck's Hybrids also gave the students an in-depth tour of their seed processing facility and demonstrated the same propensity for using cutting-edge technology to improve agricultural efficiency and production. The students learned a great deal about both the short and long-term future of the agricultural industry.  

Altogether, the trip was extremely educational as well as entertaining; the Agribusiness Club members enjoyed pairing up with Collegiate Young Farmers for this year’s journey. The students greatly enjoyed the numerous networking opportunities, as well as the chance to tour major players in the agricultural industry, which acquainted students with potential employment opportunities.

January 14, 2013