Crops judging team takes 4th at Iowa State contest

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Agronomy and Horticulture

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Crops Judging Team placed fourth at the Iowa State University crops judging contest on March 4 in Ames, Iowa. Team members include junior plant and landscape systems majors Daniel Frey, Logan Nelson, Kailey Ziegler, Zach Nienhueser and Will Stalder, and sophomore Maggie Walker.

Nine teams competed including Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Murray State, Michigan State, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, West Texas A&M and Western Illinois.

“These regional crops team contests are an opportunity for our team to measure their progress in being prepared for the knowledge and decision making needed to be professional agronomists,” team coach Don Lee said.

Stadler was the team’s top scorer overall, placing 15th individually among 64 competitors from all nine four-year institutions.

The contest had four sections which took an hour each to complete. The students had to identify dozens of weed and crop species from plants and seeds, apply math correctly to make real-world agronomy decisions, determine the cause of crop management problems, and test their overall knowledge of agronomy facts.

Garrett Kuss, a Doctor of Plant Health graduate student, and Lee, a professor of agronomy and horticulture, coach the team.

The coaches said the team looks forward to traveling to Canyon, Texas, for another regional contest at the end of March and then to Modesto, California, for the national competition in April.

Crops Judging team at ISU contest
UNL Crops Judging Team members Zach Nienhueser (from left), Will Stalder, Daniel Frey, Maggie Walker, Kailey Ziegler and Logan Nelson evaluate their success on the lab and field practical questions at the ISU contest.

More Agronomy and Horticulture News

Logan Nelson (left) shares his plant ID strategy with his UNL Crops Judging Team at the Iowa State University crops judging contest on March 4 in Ames, Iowa.
Logan Nelson (left) shares his plant ID strategy with his UNL Crops Judging Team at the Iowa State University crops judging contest on March 4 in Ames, Iowa.