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George
Skidmore (left) and Tim Rank (right) from Darke SWCD
evaluate the soil pit for the 2015
contest at Jim and Linda Rismiller’s
Farm northeast of Versailles.
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County FFA Land
Judging Contest Held in Wayne Township
On September 22, 2015 the Darke Soil and Water Conservation District
(SWCD) held their annual land judging contest for Darke County FFA
Chapters as they prepare for the District Contest. This year’s
contest was held at Jim & Linda Rismiller’s Farm off Streib Road
northeast of Versailles. This year 7 teams from four schools –
Franklin Monroe, Greenville, Mississinawa Valley and Versailles –
participated in the event.
The land judging contest consists of a rural and an urban test, this
year teams only competed in the rural test. Significant changes
were implemented at the 2015 contest to better prepare Darke County
teams as they moved on to Districts. A few of the changes
implemented on the rural test included a focus on soil health, nutrient
management, best management practices and a more in-depth look at soil
properties.
Each test challenges the students to not only identify soil types, but
also consider other soil characteristics when making recommendations
for use of that area. The contest consisted of four stations,
three soil pits and a written test. The students had 15 minutes
to finish the test at each station. Upon completion of the
contest, students were asked to hand in their answer keys before Darke
SWCD staff would go over the answers and reasoning at each station.
This year Versailles Team #1 finished with the highest team score on
the rural test, followed by Versailles Team #2 and Mississinawa
Valley. The highest individual score was Dean Heitkamp from
Versailles FFA. All participants and advisors from the top three
teams will be invited and recognized at the 60th Annual Meeting and
Banquet on Monday, November 23, 2015.
“Darke SWCD would like to thank the Rismiller’s for graciously hosting
this year’s competition, George Skidmore and Tim Rank for their
evaluation of the soil pits, Jeff Miller and Darke County Ditch
Maintenance for digging the pits and all the schools for participating
in the event. The participation and enthusiasm from the students
and teachers is what makes this competition great,” said Jared Coppess,
District Administrator for Darke SWCD.
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FFA
students analyze a soil pit during the 2015 land judging contest held
in Wayne
Township at Jim and Linda Rismiller’s farm.
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