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Soils Team Third at Nationals

By Jenny Bjelland
UW-RF News Bureau

APRIL 22, 2005--The UW-RF soils judging team competed in the 2005 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Contest held in Norfolk, Neb., April 15-16.

The NACTA contest, held annually each spring, draws nearly 500 participants from colleges and universities nationwide. Students compete in a variety of agriculturally related contests including crops, soils, horticulture, dairy, general livestock, equine, agricultural computers, agricultural business, and agricultural mechanics.

The 2005 soils contest drew students from eight four-year institutions. The competition required each student to carefully evaluate soil profiles in four pits.

Through visual and sensory examinations, students identified the soil type, listed physical characteristics, and described the parent materials. Students also determined the amount of erosion that occurred, the slope of the soil and the soil's land use capability.

Members of the third-place UW-RF soils judging team included Hannah Butenhoff, a sophomore majoring in crop science from Shell Lake, Wis., Derek Husmoen, a freshman agricultural engineering technology major from Arcadia, Wis., James Martin, a junior land-use planning major from Fond du Lac, Wis., and Denise Burce, a freshman agricultural education major from Alma, Wis.

Besides placing third overall as a team, Butenhoff placed 10th individually in the nation, Husmoen placed 11th, and Martin placed 13th.

"Their performance was remarkable," noted Bill Anderson, UW-RF professor of agronomy and one of three team coaches. "Two of the students on the team are just freshmen and haven't even taken a college soils course yet. None of these students had ever competed in a collegiate soils contest before and they still out-performed some really experienced teams."

Additional team coaches include Pam Weller, UW-RF instructor in geology, and Kevin Gray, a senior crop and soil science major who participated in the 2004 NACTA soils contest.

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Photo Cutline: Bill Anderson, professor of agronomy, Hannah Butenhoff, a sophomore majoring in crop science from Shell Lake, Wis., Derek Husmoen, a freshman agricultural engineering technology major from Arcadia, Wis., James Martin, a junior land use planning major from Fond du Lac, Wis., Denise Burce, a freshman agricultural education major from Alma, Wis., and Kevin Gray, team coach and a senior majoring in soils science.

Last updated: Tuesday, 26-Apr-2005 12:25:37 CDT