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“My degree has helped accelerate my career,” said the Virginian native, Meredith Adams '15, ’16, who earned her B.S. in Agribusiness and M.S. in Agricultural and Applied Economics. 

Virginia Tech transformed Adams into a confident leader and provided the invaluable skillsets to think analytically and understand complex subjects. These crucial experiences and lessons learned during her time as a student, play a big part in her career successes.

CAREER EXCELLENCE

“Employers know the value of the education I received at Virginia Tech,” said Adams. Her first job after leaving Blacksburg was in St. Louis as a field sales trainee with Monsanto Company (now Bayer Crop Science ‘BCS’). After completing the training program, she continued to work for BCS in Illinois as a District Sales Manager before being named the U.S. Brand Manager for Climate FieldView at Climate Corporation (now Climate LLC), a digital platform that helps farmers make data driven decisions to optimize crop yield and maximize profit. Today, Meredith is creating experiences for BCS as the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Analytics Capabilities Lead for North America, where she works to improve digital tools.

Meredith said, “My undergraduate degree helped me become a ‘leader and influencer of people’ and my master’s gave me the analytical skills needed to succeed.” She also attributes success to her personal involvement with the Ag Econ Club, Quiz Bowl, the National Agricultural Marketing Association (NAMA), and Block and Bridle.

 

In the field with farmers / corn 2016

THE IMPACT

Reflecting on the classroom impact, Meredith admired many professors including Richard Crowder, Ph.D., previous professor of the department, who had the ability to bring real world level experiences to the table. She recalls how his insights helped build her confidence as a student, so that as a professional it is easy to foster industry relationships important to her role.

Another professor who made an impact is Mike Ellerbrock, Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. “I took several of his classes and he used to say that one should ‘fall in love with learning.’ I never put much weight into what he said until well after graduation, but learning has been a continual part of my career.” Meredith says those who are excited to learn new parts of the business, expand their skillsets, and always look for better solutions will see that the possibilities in the ag industry are endless.

With Meredith’s growing career, we wanted to know what advice she had for our next generation leaders. “Get out of your comfort zone.” This mindset provided many opportunities Adams may not have had otherwise to include three invaluable internships and study abroad opportunities, including Southern States Cooperative in Richmond, Virginia; Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Missouri; and DEKALB / Asgrow Seed in Caseville, Michigan.

Meredith was the recipient of the Scroggs/Raper Scholarship from the Virginia Cooperative Council.

To learn more about the departments undergraduate and graduate programs, visit https://aaec.vt.edu/academics.html

Written by: Melissa Vidmar, vidmar@vt.edu

About Bayer Science Crop:

Bayer Crop Science is a global team dedicated to shaping agriculture through breakthrough innovation for the benefit of farmers, consumers and the world we share. Our people strive to deliver the solutions growers need to maximize yields, secure harvests and grow nutritious food and feed, sustainably.

The foundation of our business is a world-class scientific discovery, research and development organization with a powerful mandate: to develop new integrated solutions to help growers feed and protect our planet. Investment in innovation is one of the best ways we drive sustainable solutions, and with one of the largest research budgets in the ag industry, our capabilities and pipeline are expanding every day.

By Melissa Vidmar