Achieving a Childhood Dream

Tessa Wannenburgh smiled when she thought back on when she got her start farming. The gooseberries, hay bales, and barns that lined the farm near her home in Cape Town, South Africa, gave her hands-on experience with agriculture at a young age.

“Looking back, it was there that agriculture found its way into my heart. And it never left,” Wannenburgh said.

Wannenburgh made her way to Virginia Tech’s experiential two-year Agricultural Technology Program to help her reach her goal of becoming a farmer.

“This program has all the practical information I need condensed into two years,” she said. “Ithas everything about working in industry or starting and running your own business. The Agricultural Technology Program will push me forward in my farming career.”

While specializing in livestock, one of her crop professors suggested to Wannenburgh that she apply for the Pratt Research Scholarship to study soil mineralization response to nitrogen.

The goal? To determine whether it is economically beneficial for those who use stockpiled tall fescue as a source of animal nutrition to apply nitrogen fertilizer to increase forage yields and quality.

“We’re working on finding that sweet spot for nitrogen fertilizers,” Wannenburgh said.

Using two plots at two locations, Wannenburgh and her research partner Rachel Mohler measure different amounts of fertilizers and randomize the 16 sampling sites within the plot for the amount of fertilizer each respective sampling site receives. Each block gets the same fertilizer, one of the four fertilizer amounts, except for the control block which receives no nitrogen fertilizer.

The duo then cuts the grass with shears and takes the clippings from the plot to grind into a fine powder after being dried at the agronomy farm. They repeat this process monthly.

This project wouldn’t be possible without support. After finishing final exams in May 2022, one of Wannenburgh’s professors encouraged her to apply for the Pratt Research Scholarship.

“Being selected for this research position was an honor and it has been an incredible experience,” Wannenburgh said. “During my research, I used different tools and equipment I might not have otherwise used. This experience has been so valuable to my education and future career.”

While Wannenburgh spent time on that farm in South Africa, she doesn’t come from a farming background.

“It was intimidating coming into a program where almost everyone has a background in farming, but this program helped me feel confident in my ability and knowledge,” she said. “Ag Tech is for everyone, regardless of background.”

When Wannenburgh was a child of about six, she saw someone on TV artificially inseminate a cow.

“I told my parents I was going to do that one day even though I had no idea what it was at the time,” Wannenburgh said with a laugh. Lo and behold, she now performs and assists in the teaching of A.I.

The Agricultural Technology Program requires each student to do an internship, and at Wannenburgh’s internship, she did A.I. almost daily.

“More often than not, when I tell people I perform A.I. on cattle they look at me with confusion. This leads to questions about how artificial intelligence is related to farming. I just laugh and explain to them that A.I. stands for artificial insemination, which simply means I breed cows,” Wannenburgh said.

To top it off, Wannenburgh is helping with the reproductive lab this spring before she graduates.

“This program – from the research to the hands-on learning – has provided me with opportunities and experiences I otherwise wouldn’t have had,” she said. “It’s setting me up for success in my career and enabling me to step right into the workforce and be ready to contribute immediately.”