MONROE — Blackhawk Technical College was the host of the 2023 Wisconsin State Land Judging Contest held Tuesday, Oct. 10.
In team results, Monticello placed first, Potosi second, River Ridge third, Lancaster fourth, and Juda fifth. The top five teams qualified for the national land judging contest, to be held next April in Oklahoma.
In the senior results, the top individual was Molly Olson of Monticello; second place went to Sydney Recker of Potosi; third was Miranda Kieler of Potosi; fourth was Brendon Jentz of River Ridge; and fifth place went to Hailey Kramer of River Ridge.
The students traveled to the Jen and Gary Brooks farm, located north of Twin Grove. The students reviewed four soil pits and determined the position in landscape, slope of the field, determined type and degree of erosion or if there is deposition, evaluated soil properties, such as texture, structure, and drainage, estimated slope, ranked land classes, observed soil limitations, checked for invasive species, and recommended conservation practices.
There was a total of 175 students from 25 schools. Participating FFA students were from Bay Port, Beaver Dam, Blackhawk, Cassville, Cuba City, Dodgeville, Elkhorn, Evansville, Fennimore, Juda, Lake Mills, Lancaster, Milton, Monticello, Mount Horeb, Pecatonica, Platteville, Potosi, Prairie du Chien, River Ridge, Seneca, Shullsburg, Sun Prairie East, Sun Prairie West, and Wauzeka.
Rufer and Son dug the pits for the contest. Jeff Deniger of the Natural Resources Conservation Service was the official judge of the contest. Local Land and Water Conservation staff Tonya Gratz, Tess Wallner, and Todd Jenson, as well as local NRCS staff Emily Colson, Ashley Letcher, Chelsea Gruber, Kristin Fischer, and Jason Thomas ran the contest. Insight FS sponsored the meal. Monson Septic sponsored a porta-potty. Wisconsin Association of Ag Educators for sponsored the awards. Diane Morgan, Ken Engelke, and Rick Bockhop managed the scoring room. Rena Koning catered the meal. Jeremy Luckey provided the cover crop seed for reseeding the soil pits. Blackhawk Tech staff and students helped throughout the contest.
