Texas Tech to host national collegiate soil judging contest
Texas Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science is hosting the National Collegiate Soil Judging Contest on March 21-26 here on the South Plains. Participants, in this the 50th annual gathering of the grueling undergraduate contest, spend days describing, classifying and interpreting soils and landscapes on their way to becoming national champions.
"Soil judging prepares students for professional careers in soil science and gives them additional experience outside the classroom," said Wayne Hudnall, Texas Tech's soils judging team coach and the university's B.L. Allen Endowed Chair for Pedology. Texas Tech Emeritus Professor B. L. Allen, who helped organize the national soils contest and who was actually at the first contest, will be a featured guest at this year's contest.
Judging team members are often sought after by universities offering graduate degrees and by prospective employers including government agencies at all levels, and agricultural and environmental consulting companies, Hudnall said. Soil science careers range from soil survey and resource management to agricultural production and environmental consulting, research and teaching.
Almost two dozen collegiate teams from across the nation are participating this year. There are seven collegiate soil judging regions in the United States. Teams compete in their region, and the top teams qualify for the national contest.
As the host university Texas Tech is not allowed to compete at nationals this year.
Among the 23 teams scheduled to attend the competition this year are:
"Auburn University
"California Polytechnic State University
"Clemson University
"Iowa State University
"Missouri State University
"Northern Illinois University
"Northwest Missouri State University
"Oklahoma State University
"Oregon State University
"Texas A&M University
"University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
"University of Georgia
"University of Idaho
"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"University of Maryland
"University of Missouri
"University of Rhode Island
"University of Tennessee-Martin
"University of Wisconsin-Platteville
"Utah State University
"Virginia Tech University
"West Virginia University
"Wilmington College of Ohio
Officials said that in preparation for the contest there are four days of practice, where teams use so-called practice pits to get to know the local soils and the rationale behind how professional judges have described, classified and interpreted the soils.
The actual contest has two events: individual judging on Thursday, March 25; and group judging on Friday, March 26. Practice and contest soils are pre-judged by professional soil scientists from the USDA's National Resources Conservation Service, along with Allen, Hudnall and Charlie Thompson, a retired Texas State Soils Scientist and Texas Tech alumnus.
In addition to Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science, this year's event is co-sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, USDA-NRCS, The Golden Spread Chapter of the Soil Water Conservation Society of America, and the Professional Soil Scientist Association of Texas.
Written by Norman Martin
CONTACT: Wayne Hudnall, B.L. Allen Endowed Chair for Pedology, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-4490 or wayne.hudnall@ttu.edu
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