From the Field to the Classroom and Back — Emily Recker's Journey With the Halderman Companies

Welcome to the Halderman Podcast. I'm Howard Halderman, President and CEO of the Halderman Companies, and today I have a guest that I'm genuinely excited to sit down with. Emily Recker has spent this summer with us as an intern here at the Halderman Companies, and I can tell you — she has made an impression. Emily is heading into her senior year at Purdue University, one of the top agriculture programs in the country, and she's been getting a firsthand look at what it means to work in farm management and real estate from the inside. This summer Emily has been working alongside some of our best — Michael and Dave Bonnell down in the Columbus and Hope area, and Todd Litten over in Ellettsville. That's a lot of ground covered, literally and figuratively. Those are experienced farm managers who know the markets and spending a summer learning from that group is about as good an education as you can get outside of a classroom. What I find especially compelling about Emily is where her sights are set after graduation in the spring of 2027. She's got her eye on the appraisal side of this business — and that's one of the most demanding and rewarding paths you can take in agricultural real estate. It takes deep knowledge of soils, markets, and methodology, and a genuine feel for the land. We think Emily has what it takes. Today we're going to talk about her summer, what she's carrying back to West Lafayette for that final year at Purdue, and what the road toward an appraiser's license looks like for a young professional just getting started.