Ag students compete in land judging
FFA member Kermit Foor gets down into the earth for measurements at the land judging contest.
October 7, 2017
Bellwood-Antis FFA members spent Thursday testing their skills at a land judging contest in Williamsburg.
On Thursday, October 5, select Future Farmers of America members, under the direction of Mr. Matt Webreck, from the agricultural science classes went to Williamsburg to compete in a land judging contest.
The land was owned by the PennEngland Dairy Farm for their feed crops. Four other schools participated in the contest. The event was organized by the Blair County Conservation District as a way to expose students to soil and land identification.
Land judging is something I look forward to every year.
— Johana Whiteford
In the contest, each student is required to fill out a scorecard independently using knowledge and skills developed in their ag classes. A student is required to identify the slope of the site along with the percentage of stoniness, soil drainage, and other similar aspects of the site.
“Land judging is something I look forward to every year because we get to meet with other school districts, and it’s a good reason to go out and communicate with other FFA students,” said junior Johanna Whiteford.
This year there were three sites to be judged, with one example site.
Most students in attendance agreed with Johanna.
“Land judging is always a blast,” said senior Tabitha Thomas. “This year’s group was amazing.”
Several things made this year’s judging difficult, particularly the arid nature of the terrain.
“It was a lot of fun, but the land was dry, which made it hard to judge,” said senior Caleb Rickard.
The students will find out how they placed later this month.
