Allison Zimmerman – Agriculture & Administrative Co-Op

Hello, my name is Allison Zimmerman. My co-op is at Homestead Nutrition, in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Homestead Nutrition is an agriculture business that specializes in livestock, soil, and seed products. My job title is Administrative Assistant/Event Coordinator. Some tasks that I complete often are graphic designing, office duties, planning events, and farm mapping. Specifically, in graphic design, I have focused on advertisements, brochures, product guides, and a website. Some of the office duties include preparing documents for mailing, folding papers, and stamping envelopes.

The projects I am focusing on are planning events such as the open house, dairy seminar, agronomy meeting, and employee events. The dairy seminar and agronomy meetings are a collaboration of vendors and customers. Normally, we have four speakers that speak on topics relevant to the agriculture industry. I connect with vendors about sponsorship and how they support Homestead Nutrition. I have also learned more about the finance side of the company. I have learned how to invoice, check the prices of items, and run reports.

Homestead Nutrition is involved in many areas of the Agriculture industry such as agronomy, dairy, equine, and produce. As a result, I have broadened my outlook on the Agriculture industry. Through shadowing coworkers, I have discovered that having a passion is how to best succeed. I have learned skills that will be valuable to my future from my coworkers. Each member knows how they can contribute, this has helped me learn how Homestead Nutrition functions successfully.

Doing my cooperative education at Homestead Nutrition has confirmed that I want to go into an Agri-business career. In planning for my future, I will continue working at Homestead Nutrition full time with the goal of planning more successful events and gaining greater financial intelligence. I hope to continue working at Homestead Nutrition after high school and use my passion for Agriculture to boost the company.