As our agricultural workforce ages, there are fewer young professionals to fill those roles.  Farmers, farm managers, crop consultants, and county agents are fewer, and we need a new generation of motivated and experienced ag professionals.  At the same time, we are educating students in ag-related fields that are often removed from grower outreach and field research.   These students take traditional ag-related classes, but rarely see farms or farmers.  As a result, they consider careers in Extension or applied research less often.  Between 2018 and 2022, the UK Specialty Crops Pathology Extension program worked with undergraduate programs such as the UK Agriculture and Medical Biotechnology Program (AgBioTech) to provide internships that offered experience in field diagnoses, disease management research, and problem-solving projects that directly provided real-world experiences.  These Extension internships resulted in training of 18 undergraduate student interns, with 4 of them choosing to pursue careers in Extension or applied agriculture.   Two of the four have pursued graduate school and plan to work in Extension in the future.  Even students who chose non-Extension careers are now equipped to apply their new knowledge to their new fields. We envision their future collaborations with local Extension programs and supporting services that Extension provides to stakeholders across the commonwealth.   Training future agriculture professionals and ag-advocates is critical for the stabilization of our agriculture workforce and ultimately for food security. This internship program will continue through 2027.