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A recipe for self-confidence

This is the second of four articles that describe the experiences of students working through their first summer in the FMT program, in the Agricultural Internship course for the 2019 season.

Stacey Godin, a year 2 FMT student, stands in an empty milking parlour
Image by David Wees.
Stacey Godin, astudent entering her second year of the FMT program this fall, completed her Agricultural Internship in Lachute (QC) working for the Hammond family at BenAllan Farms and Ferme Kevin Hammond. The primary location, BenAllan Farms, cultivates 3,700 acres and milks 200 Holstein and Ayrshire cows. Family member Kevin and his wife Emily operate Ferme Kevin Hammond, milking 85 cows on a rented farm.

Reflecting on what she learned during her stage, Godin stated, “the biggest thing I learned is that I can work well in a team as well as independently. The host farm(s) have been very confident in my skills and my ability to carry out various tasks independently, so I gained lots of self-confidence.”

“I was intimidated at first as to what work I would be doing and what tasks I would be doing. After the first week I was integrated into the farm as if I had been working there previously. The other employees were very welcoming and are always there to lend a hand if needed,” she added.

“This experience has been rewarding for me in the sense that it gave me the opportunities to learn a lot about different enterprises as well as management skills and techniques,” concluded Godin.

Invested and enthusiastic

Emily Hammond of Ferme Kevin Hammond, Stacey Godin’s supervisor and an FMT alumni, describes why she likes hiring interns from Mac. “I like teaching the younger generation about all the aspects of farming and what goes into managing a farm and see them apply those lessons themselves. Stacey is from a farm and she already knows a lot, so it was nice to have discussions and hear her thoughts on some of the day-to-day decisions. It’s so it’s nice to have an intern that is there to learn and who’s interested in what we do.”

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