Jack Beetz (Black Hawk)

 Hello, My name is Jack Beetz and this fall I shadowed at Consolidated grain and Barge in Hennepin. I grew up on a family farm where we grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and seed corn. My family also runs Meriden Grain which is a member of the Grain and Feed Association which is an agribusiness that spans from seed sales and custom application to grain storage and drying at our elevator.  The first day I spent most of the time with Dan Aubry who is the grain Origination Manager and Taylor Pollock. Taylor showed me around the facility and then I watched Dan for the first day. He showed me how he goes about communicating bids with his staff and then looking over contracts that his team has bought and showed the process of how he reviews them and looks for any errors. The second day I spent  at CGB was with Taylor and we started by looking at different programs on the computer that she uses as an originator. She also showed me some pictures from different grain industry trips she has been on. Next, we went out to the grain probe and I learned how they do the tests on all the grades that they take. I also learned about the process of grinding and testing organic corn which isn’t something I was familiar with so I found it very interesting.