Holly Greenberg - Week 4

 This was truly another great week! It is hard to believe how quick the weeks are going by. As we are getting to the halfway point, I am both excited and disappointed; excited for the remainder of new opportunities, but disappointed that it will be over all too soon! 

Monday began with the weekly connection, where we discussed AI and precision agriculture. It was nice to meet with the interns again after the campus tour. The AI conversation focused on the environmental impacts of the rapidly growing technology sector. One topic included how the construction of data centers is affecting the surrounding community due to the large water consumption. In addition, it was interesting to learn from Jarrod Miller, an agronomist, about the overlap of agriculture and technology through precision agriculture. It is fascinating how useful drones can be for mapping and maintaining land. 

Over the past few weeks, while still having a reliance on technology, I have noticed a decrease in my typical screentime. While systems like Workday, Concur, and Google are the backbone of the technical side of the internship, my daily activities are mostly off-screen. I feel very lucky that much of my day is spent outside in the field, using pen and paper. I am sure that many of the paper records will have to be turned digital eventually, but until then, I am enjoying it. While I believe that AI and technology can make our lives easier, I do not overlook its flaws and the ability to diminish our human competence. 

The rest of the week included many trips to Rockville to water the native plant sod. It is interesting to see the difference in growth rates among the three sites. One of the sites was unfortunately mowed, but it is bouncing back! While in Rockville on Tuesday, I removed and replaced the double-sided tape Alexandra and I put up on the first day of the internship. Next week, I will look over each piece of tape to track the presence of Crape Myrtle Bark Scale crawlers. 

This is the rotary parlor at Fair Hill Farms. 

Wednesday was the MACAA (Maryland Association of County Agriculture Agents) tour. The day began at Fair Hill Farms, an organic dairy farm with a rotary parlor that the cows ride for 11 minutes as they are milked. It was fascinating to see a smooth operation with such happy animals. The cows choose when to get on and off the parlor, and also have the ability to remove the milking mechanism when they are done. Next, we went to Red Acres Hydroponics. They focus on growing lettuce hydroponically for restaurants, businesses, and school districts. I enjoyed learning about the partnership with local school districts and the prioritization of fresh produce for students. We also went to Angelica Nursery, a huge wholesale operation that we toured via school bus. Here, I was able to apply what I have been learning in ornamentals these past few weeks. After lunch, we headed to Harris Seafood, a restaurant and oyster shucking plant. Harris Seafood provides Sam’s Clubs nationwide with oysters! It was great to learn about the marine life improvements in the Chesapeake Bay and the process of catching and processing seafood. The day ended with a picnic where I was able to talk with the other interns and county agriculture agents. 

Here are the other interns and I in the feed barn at Fair Hill Farms.

The week ended with a trip to two sites in Washington County to check the Box Tree Moth traps and a few more commutes to Rockville. I did not find any adult moths but did find caterpillars of instars 1 and 4, along with a few eggs. We can now inform locals that this is the time to treat before the defoliation becomes too severe. 

This is a fourth instar caterpillar of Box Tree Moth.

Overall, it was a great week of learning about topics focused on both ornamentals and other aspects of agriculture, especially animal science! I am already looking forward to the coming week!