Submitted article
New Washington, OH – On Tuesday, September 23rd the Buckeye Central FFA Members participated in the Crawford County Soil Judging Contest. All students in the Agriculture Education classroom have been studying the importance of soil and soil conservation for the past several weeks and this event culminated their educational experience by allowing the students to apply the knowledge they obtained in the classroom to real world soil conservation activity.
Two separate contests were participated in by members from BC, Wynford, and Colonel Crawford. The Rural Land Evaluation contest allows students to study the soil and ultimately make recommendations for Farm Land Use as well as Conservation Practices that would conserve the invaluable resource. The Urban Land Evaluation contest allowed student to evaluate the soil from a different perspective, students were to analyze the soil and make recommendations for soil conservation for the construction of homes, septic systems, roadways, and greenspaces.
The contest was organized on Hiler Farm’s property on Young Road in Tiro Township, by the Crawford County Soil & Water Conservation District with Mike Hall, Don Fishpaw, and Brad VanVoorhis as the official judges.
Final Results saw Buckeye Central FFA topping all county teams in both contests. In the Urban Contest Buckeye Central placed 1st, with Wynford and Colonel Crawford following respectively. Top individuals in the Urban Contest were; (name, school, county placing) Paul Heydinger, BC, 1st, Alex Fike, BC, 2nd, Seth Ollis, BC, 3rd, Peter Keller, BC 4th, Kenzie Kent, Wynford, 5th. The win made it 5 straight County Championships for the Buckeye Central FFA Chapter at the Crawford County Contest. Heydinger, Fike, Ollis, Keller, and Austin Wurm will compete at the District 2 FFA Urban Soil Judging Contest in Lorain County on Tuesday, September 30th.
The Rural Soil Judging Contest saw similar results as the Urban contest as Buckeye Central placed 1st for the 4th time in 5 years while Wynford and Colonel Crawford placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Top individuals in the Rural Contest were; (name, school, county placing) Makayla Aichholz, BC, 1st, Victoria Miller, BC 2nd, Seth Ollis, BC 3rd, Aryn Copeland, Wynford, 4th, Ray Stahl, BC 5th. Aichholz, Miller, Stahl, Derek Kalb, and Jaret Shook will compete in the District 2 FFA Rural Soil Judging Contest in Lorain County on Tuesday, September 30th. Ollis had the option to choose which contest to participate in due to an FFA rule not allowing him to compete in both at the District level.
The Buckeye Central FFA would like to thank the Crawford County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Hiler Farms for putting the event together as well as Steve Aichholz for digging practice pits for the students to learn and perfect their judging skills.