The East Knox FFA Agricultural Soils Career Development Event Team competed in the 69th National Land and Range Judging Contest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on May 3-5, 2022, where they finished in 75th place in the Land Evaluation category. Team members were Alexandria Magers, Andrew Poff, Hailey Frazee and Nic Steinwender. Individually, Alexandria Magers placed 28th out of 389 contestants, the highest ranking from Ohio.
There were 101 total FFA teams and 389 FFA individuals from 33 states that competed in the Land Evaluation event. There were also Homesite Evaluation and Range Judging categories, for a total of 188 teams and 741 individuals. The contest is sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and is open to FFA and 4-H teams across the nation. To qualify to compete in the event, the East Knox Agricultural Soils team placed fourth in the state contest held last October. Each state can send up to five teams to compete in each category of the national event. Ohio sends the top five agricultural teams to compete in the Land Division and the top five urban teams to compete in the Homesite category.
Team members had to determine surface and subsurface texture, permeability, soil depth, erosion, slope (without the use of a measuring device) and runoff. Using this information, they had to determine the major factors that kept the site out of Class I and then determine which of the eight USDA land classes the area was assigned. They also had to select vegetative land treatments, mechanical land treatments, and recommend fertilizer and soil amendments.
The awards banquet was held at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. This is the 29th East Knox FFA Soils Career Development Event team that has qualified for the national contest.
The teams would like to thank all who helped with the expenses for the national trip to Oklahoma.
