By Garrett Kuss
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Crops Judging Team placed fifth in the nation at the annual North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Crops Judging Contest held April 22–25 and hosted by Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Team member Gabrielle Clifton placed eighth individually.
The team competed in the four-year division against 16 other universities from across the country. Team members included Maddie Weber, a senior agronomy and agricultural leadership, education and communication major; Gabrielle Clifton, an agronomy major with a minor in grassland ecology and management; Ryan Groff, a sophomore agricultural economics major; and junior agronomy majors Abby Frank, Clinton Turnbull, Alex Banzhaf and Xavier Ettwein. The team is coached by Garrett Kuss, a plant biology alumnus and graduate student in the Doctor of Plant Health program.
In addition to competing, the team spent time during the week visiting with agriculturalists, producers and manufacturers in the area. They began their trip with a visit to Hungry World Farm, an organization focused on regenerative agriculture and education for people who want to better understand where their food comes from. Manager Sam Ingersoll gave students a tour of the diversified farm, including multispecies rotational grazing of cattle, sheep and chickens; permaculture crops such as pawpaw, raspberries and wine grapes; and fungiculture, cultivation of mushrooms.
During the visit, Ingersoll shared that it would not be his generation that would fix today’s issues, but instead be up to the students and their peers to think differently and develop new systems to make farming more sustainable and better serve the communities they find themselves in. His message challenged students to see themselves not only as future agricultural professionals but also as problem-solvers.
Source : unl.edu