Fran Benne | Design and Communications Specialist
The UNL Weeds Team brought home top honors at the NCWSS Student Weed Contest at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. | Photo by Chris Proctor
You may have seen members of the UNL Weeds Team this summer, out and about on UNL’s East Campus or around the West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte, identifying weeds. The Weed of the Day was trending on many UNL and agronomy-related Twitter accounts as well—thanks to Josh Miller, Doctor of Plant Health and agronomy Ph.D. student, and Rodrigo Werle, assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture, who posted a new weed for students each week. All of this was in preparation for the North Central Weed Science Society Student Weed Contest that took place July 27–28.
Twenty-eight UNL undergraduate and graduate students participated and brought home four top honors including an individual championship win. Ryan Langemeier, an agronomy major, won the undergraduate Herbicide ID category.
UNL agronomy graduate students, Zahoor Ganie (front) and Matthew Nelson (back) compete at the 2016 NCWSS Student Weed Contest. | Photo by Chris Proctor
The regional contest, hosted by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, boasted 25 teams and almost 100 individuals from the north-central region of the United States. Awards were given in five different categories including Written Calibration, Weed ID, Herbicide ID, Farmer Problem and Field (Team) Calibration.
The graduate teams of Josh Miller, Zahoor Ganie, Matthew Nelson and Spencer Samuelson took second place overall while Parminder Chahal, Bruno Canella Vieira, Maxwel Oliveira and Don Treptow took third. The undergraduate team of Jose Henrique de Sanctis, Langemeier, Rodger Farr and Felipe Faleco took third place overall.
Coaches for the team were Department of Agronomy and Horticulture Associate Professor Greg Kruger, Assistant Extension Educator Chris Proctor and Werle. Miller and Tommy Butts, agronomy Ph.D. student, trained the students in Lincoln and North Platte respectively. They also taught a one-credit weed science contest prep course in the spring.
“Both Miller and Butts deserve a lot of credit for their initiative and commitment to these students,” Werle said. “Our students have done an outstanding job representing UNL at previous weed contests and we look forward to having new undergraduate and graduate students joining us next year. Our preparation for the 2017 weed contest will start next spring. Stay tuned for more information!”