The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Crops Judging Team has been busy this spring competing in crops judging contests and giving back to Nebraska FFA.
The team placed third overall in the four-year college division at the West Texas A&M University Collegiate Crops Contest on March 25 in Canyon, Texas. Team members included junior plant and landscape systems majors Logan Nelson, Kailey Ziegler, Zach Nienhueser and Will Stalder, and sophomore Maggie Walker.
The competition consisted of two exams over math and common agronomic problems and two ID portions. Of the ID portions, one was over weed and crops ID, where students were responsible for knowing the seed, young and mature stages of the plants. The second was over equipment, map reading and other miscellaneous trivia.
This contest featured more questions about agriculture in Texas and other states in the south, including questions about cotton production and other systems with less moisture than in Nebraska.
Garrett Kuss, Doctor of Plant Health graduate student and coach, said this competition helped prepare the team for the national contest in a few weeks in Modesto, California.
Team hosts agronomy competition at state FFA convention
The team also had an opportunity to host the Agronomy Career Development Event at this year’s Nebraska State FFA Convention on March 30 in the Nebraska East Union. Over 200 students from across the state competed in multiple common knowledge and ID exams during this contest.
“The team had a great time meeting with students and talking with teachers about how they study for similar questions in their collegiate crop judging competitions,” Kuss said. “For some, this was also an opportunity to catch up with previous high school ag teachers, as many on the team started in this exact competition during their time in high school.”
The team is coached by Kuss and Don Lee, professor of agronomy and horticulture.
