Nevada FFA soils team qualifies for state, Freshman attend Leadership Conference

One of five Nevada FFA soils judging teams placed fifth out of forty-nine teams at the North Central District FFA soils judging contest. Having a team in the top five qualified Nevada for the state contest held Saturday, Oct. 8, at ISU. The district contest was held at Ellsworth Community College on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Connor MacVey was tenth high overall individual score, Luke Ferguson was 23rd overall high scoring individual and Logan Stufflebeam placed 29th overall individual. The contest had 189 FFA members participating in the skill development contest. Nevada FFA had seventeen students competing on five teams. The soils evaluation career development event is designed to provide students with an opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of Soils Evaluation. The Soils Evaluation Career Development Event included the evaluation of four soil pits, plus a written exam about soils in Iowa. The score card used to judge the soil pits is divided into five parts: Surface Features, Soil Features-The Profile, Land Capability Classification and Productivity Potential, Evaluation of Management Practices and Sustainability of Soils for Non-Agricultural Uses.

While the Nevada upperclassmen were judging soils, twenty-four new FFA members attended the “greenhand fire-up” on campus. The freshman participated in breakout sessions that provided information on what FFA activities they are able to participate in. Also, the fire-up offered the opportunity for the students to meet other FFA members from the fifty-two high schools in attendance.