Soil is an important factor to agriculture. Without the knowledge of soil, farmers would not be able to successfully produce all of the crops that they do.

McKenzie Gettler’s Plant Science class studies soil and its capability to be used in many different ways. According to Gettler, contestants on the soil judging team take a knowledge test, and test four different pits of soil. Everything they judge the soil on they learn in her class, such as slope, texture, color, erosion class, land capability class and overall suitability for different uses.

This year the soil judging team went to many different competitions and placed extremely well. This year’s team members are Kate Collins, Caleb Weddle, Dylan Barker and Kaylee Wheeler.

Their first competition this year was in Knoxville at Districts. Dylan Barker placed first, Kaylee Wheeler placed fourth and Kate Collins placed sixth. The team as a whole placed first out of 28 teams.

Their second competition was at Ames in early October. Their team placed fourth out of 29 others and Dylan Barker placed second overall. The top five teams advance, so the ADM team is invited to go to nationals.

This is their second year competing together and Nationals take place in May in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on May 2 to 3.