The 2016 Tri-County Soil Judging Contest was won this year by a team of four students from Webster High School: Brett Johnson, Maggie Wright, Sunny Cone and Synclare Stubbe.
This year’s contest, hosted by Polk County, was held on Thursday, October 13th at the beautiful Lake Wapogasset Bible Camp in Amery. The annual event rotates between Polk, Burnett, and Washburn Counties and
is supported by the Polk County Land and Water Resources Department and the Burnett and Washburn County Land and Water Conservation Departments with support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The event was attended by 89 students representing eight schools, Clear Lake, Luck, Frederic, Unity, Webster, Siren, Shell Lake and Spooner. The students compete as teams and as individuals. Each school is allowed up to two teams of four contestants each. The participants examined the soil and surrounding land. They then defined texture, structure, drainage and production capabilities and land uses of several different soils. All the students did well and the weather was very cooperative with perfect fall temperatures and lots of sunshine.
Luck FFA member, Logan Grey, noted that "We didn’t think it would be as serious as it was – but it was extremely serious! There were people who had speakers come into their classrooms to teach them about it. You had to classify it (the dirt) as Class I, Class 2 or Class 3, and you had to figure out what it was good for, what you could use it for. It was a lot more serious than I thought!”
After judging the pits, the students headed back to the Bible Camp for lunch and the awards presentation. Lunch was provided through generous support from Unity FFA and Alumni, Polk County Agriculture Educators, and Larsen Family Meats. A special thanks to Lakecrest Farms for hosting the event and to Gille Trucking and Excavating for digging the soil pits.
Team winners were: 1st Place: Webster with 882 points: Brett Johnson, Maggie Wright, Sunny Cone and Synclare Stubbe 2nd Place: Siren #1 with 840 points: Mollie Kozak, Kayla Eideh, Abby Good, John Doric 3rd Place: Siren #2 with 785 points: Kaylin Ritchey, Tyler Anton, Cassie Wentland, Max Lindquist Individual winners were: 1st Place: Sunny Cone, Webster with 317 points 2nd Place: Mollie Kozak, Siren #1 with 291 points 3rd Place: TIE: Bailey Mangen, Siren #2 with 287 points 3rd Place: TIE: Brett Johnson, Webster with 287 points 4th Place: John Doric, Siren #1 with 286 points 5th Place: Max Lindquist, Siren #2 with 284 points 6th Place: Synclare Stubbe, Webster with 278 points 7th Place: Maggie Wright, Webster with 277 points Congratulations to all the students who participated in a job well done. We hope to see everyone again next year in Washburn County.
See the article by the Inter-County Leader here.