Week 1 Introductory Blog and My Career Field

     Introduction to Myself and My Career

    Hello, my name is Brode Hillstrom. I am from Jamestown, North Dakota which is ninety-five miles from Fargo. I spent my whole life on a small ranch with horses and cows. I have always really enjoyed the outdoors, some of my favorite hobbies are hunting and fishing. I grew up playing sports throughout my life. My favorite sports are hockey and football, but I also ran track in high school. I graduated high school in 2022 and committed to play Division 2 football across the river in Moorhead, but this only lasted a year. I did not enjoy it as much as I thought that I would and completing my desired major of General Agriculture was not possible at that school. I am now going into my senior year at NDSU, and I am on track to graduate in May of 2026. While at NDSU I have been playing club hockey to fill most of my time during the school year. That is where I have met most of my friends at school, I really enjoy playing hockey and wish it was possible for me to play year-round.

    Hunting and fishing are very important to me, not just for the sport, but to experience nature. Seeing how the world works not just in your work life, you will experience things that many people will never partake in. I also use it to connect with friends and family; it brings me closer to the people who matter in my life. It is very calming to experience nature in several different ways, and I think everyone should try it at least once.

    My major is General Agriculture with a focus in Crop and Weed Science. This involves many aspects of learning how plants work, how to identify them, and how to kill weeds. Weeds are the biggest problems in a farmer's field, they are what cause the majority of crop loss in the world, so learning how to kill them is very important for raising a good crop.

    Now for my job. I currently work for Centrol Ag Consulting. I am a field scout, now you may be wondering what that is. My job is to drive around in farmers' fields and tell them what exists and is happening in their fields. The things that I notify them about is how many weeds are in their field, the size of the weeds in their field, if there are bugs eating their crops, or if there are any diseases or deficiencies affecting the growth of their crop. We also take stand counts in the fields we work in. This is done by taking a certain distance and counting the amount of crop that has emerged and depending on the spacing of the rows the distance changes. The reason for taking stand count is to have a general idea of how many plants are in the field and to estimate the yield of the crop. 

    Once I graduate and get my degree I plan on continuing to work for Centrol Ag Consulting full time. I will receive the new job title of Crop Technician. This new job title comes with some more responsibilities and a pay raise.