Submitted article
On Saturday, Oct. 17 the Buckeye Central FFA’s Soil Judging Teams participated in the Ohio FFA Associations Rural and Urban Soil Judging Career Development Event (CDE). The contest was held in Ashland County, near Pleasant Hill Lake Campground. FFA members braved the cool morning air along with windy conditions to evaluate four soil pits for the purposes of Agricultural uses as well as Urban development uses.
The Urban Soils contest challenges the students to evaluate the properties of the soil to determine best management practices for urban development or home building. Soil texture, water table, structure, slope, and depth are a few of the factors students must determine. Best management practices are then selected for Buildings with Basements, Sewage Treatment Systems, Driveways and local roads, and Lawns and Gardens.
In the Urban soils contest the Red and Grey placed third out of 47 teams from schools all across the state. This top five finish qualifies the Urban Team for the National Land and Range Judging contest in the “Home-site” division. This is the fourth year in a row that they placed in the top five in Ohio and it is the third year in a row a BC Urban Soils team has qualified for the National Contest.
The Urban team includes junior Tori Miller and sophomores McKennah Corfman, Payton Phenicie, and Wade Ackerman. Miller was the top performing student from BC with a 10th place individual finish, Corfman was right on her heels with a 12th place finish, Ackerman was 32nd and Phenicie was 65th. A total of 168 students participated in the contest.
The Rural or Agricultural Use contest students evaluate similar soil properties to make recommendations for best management practices that will help reduce or eliminate erosion, resolve compaction problems, increase water quality, as well as make fertilizer recommendations.
In the Rural soils contest the chapter judged their way to the top and are the 2015 Ohio FFA Rural Soils CDE Champions, winning a second state championship in three years for the BC FFA.
The state champions include senior Derek Kalb, sophomore Makayla Aichholz, and freshmen Adam Krebs and Grant Bishop. Pacing the Bucks was Kalb who placed 6th as an individual, Aichholz was one point behind him and finished 7th, Krebs followed with a 16th place individual finish and Bishop finished in 49th of 166 participants.
This makes Derek Kalb a two time state champion in the FFA soils contests. In 2013 Derek’s team won the Ohio FFA Urban soils contest and placed 3rd individually.
“I’m proud of my team,” Derek Kalb said. “I hope I can use what I learned from last time in Oklahoma to do better this time.”
This is the first year that the BC FFA has placed in the top five in state and qualified for nationals in rural soils.
Both teams will be traveling to the National Land and Range Judging contest in Oklahoma, May 2 – 6, 2016. This National Contest is administered by the Oklahoma Department of Soil and Water Conservation.
In 2014 the BC FFA placed 44th of 57 teams; 2015 BC Graduate Ray Stahl was the top performer with an 84th place individual finish. This last spring the BC FFA improved their finish by placing 31st of 62 teams and was paced by 2015 BC Graduate Seth Ollis with a 49th place finish.
“With dedication of time and hard work we can continue to improve at the National Contest. This being our third year attending I think we have a lot of the unknowns figured out. I know our students will put forth their best effort and most importantly enjoy this amazing opportunity and experience,” said Buckeye Central FFA advisor Travis Pope.