Lincoln, Neb. — Former Yeutter student fellow, Zane Mrozla-Mindrup was the second student to spend the summer working on agricultural trade issues through a partnership between the Yeutter Institute and DTB Agritrade, a DC-based consulting firm specializing in agricultural trade policy. Learn more about DTB Agritrade here and read more about Zane’s experience below.
Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
I grew up just outside of Louisville, NE. My family has been farming in the state's southeastern corner for generations, and I grew up with some idea of how important our ag industry is to Nebraska. When I got to Lincoln, I started in the Agricultural Economics program at UNL, and after he came to present in my introductory lecture course, I ended up taking AECN 220 with Professor John Beghin. His course showed me this intersection of international trade and agricultural issues that I had never really considered and eventually it led me to the Yeutter Institute.
As a previous Yeutter Student Fellow, how did that opportunity impact you and contribute to your understanding of international trade? Did it influence your decision to pursue this internship?
To start, I only found this internship through Cheyenne Gerlach and the assistance of the Yeutter Institute, the Yeutter network being an excellent resource for anyone looking to get involved in the trade or ag trade space. My time as a student fellow gave me a much deeper understanding of trade policy, of contemporary trade issues, and of the WTO. These all being areas that made me a more competitive applicant for DTB and allowed me to contribute more during my time with the firm. The knowledge I gained as a fellow also allowed me to hold my own in more advanced trade discussions and ask better questions when I needed clarification. Another incredible outcome from my time with the Yeutter Institute is the tremendous strength of the Institute's network. I came into contact with many members of that network this summer including some amazing, DC-based members of the Yeutter family, Former Chief Agricultural Negotiator Darci Vetter, as well as dozens of people who worked with and shared fond memories of Clayton Yeutter himself.
Congratulations on being the second intern at DTB Agritrade! How was your experience at DTB?
I cannot speak highly enough of the team at DTB. You would be hard pressed to find any group more knowledgeable about agricultural trade politics and policy. They have so much experience in every arena from cooperator groups to legislative offices to federal agencies, like FAS and USTR. I never had a question go unanswered, they always knew something about an issue from their own expertise or had a connection who had the answer. While I did spend some time assigned to specific projects, they allowed me tremendous latitude to learn and explore within the trade space. Some of my favorite experiences included attending speaker events in DC. Some of these included former WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, Former Colombian President Ivan Duque, and current USTR Katherine Tai. In addition, the office environment was fantastic, up to and including the free coffee. I genuinely enjoyed going in everyday to work with and learn from this team.
What challenges have you encountered during your internship, and how have you overcome them?
After three months in Washington DC, I finally started to get a handle on the public transportation system, i.e. I stopped taking trains that were going the wrong direction, but that was mainly solved via trial and error. On a more serious note, I was worried about networking in DC. I had heard that it can be kind of fast-paced, and impersonal. The solution for me actually came from my boss, Ben Conner, he put me in touch with the DC Ag Intern Network which was a phenomenal resource throughout the summer, hosting lunches and workshops that allowed me to connect with a number of my motivated, ag-focused peers. In the office, I started the summer feeling that I had a pretty solid foundation when it came agricultural commodities, how they are traded, and what, vaguely, their support structures look like. After some practical experience I learned that, perhaps blinded by regionalism, there are so many products from timber to sugar cane to dairy that I had yet to consider, and while there is significant overlap, the ways these products figure into agricultural trade is so much different than beef or soybeans.
How do you plan to apply the knowledge and experiences gained through this internship to make a meaningful contribution to the agricultural trade industry or related policy areas?
Spending this past summer in DC, I feel that I have a much stronger grasp on a range of agricultural trade issues important to producers around the world at this moment. Many of these are highly complex issues that will persist in this arena well into future, so my experience at DTB serves as an early introduction. I also feel, after gaining some firsthand account, that I have a better idea of the interest groups involved in this space and what they seek to influence within both agricultural and trade policy. Finally, I made so many amazing contacts in private and government roles that I can call on in the future, something especially important as this is a field I plan on returning to as I start my career. A huge thank you to Jill O'Donnell and Cheyenne Gerlach at the Yeutter Institute, Steve Sothmann and Ben Conner at DTB AgriTrade, as well as all the people who helped make this opportunity possible and this summer such a remarkable experience!
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