Our Local Landscape
Sandy had so much to say about Land Judging, we couldn’t fit it all on one page! So be sure to scroll down to read his article in its entirety.
2023 LAND JUDGING DISTRICT CONTEST
The web page connection for the Alabama Future Farmers of America (FFA) displays a lofty mission statement: “The Future of Agriculture – We’re Growing the Next Generation of Leaders Who Will Change the World”. Towards that end, every year the FFA organization partners with several other sponsoring entities – such as the Baldwin County Conservation District - to bring younger citizens closer to nature and the world of agriculture. A central theme is to teach them about the value of assessing and interpreting our valuable soil and water resources along with sound stewardship of the natural resources that produce the food and fiber necessities of life. The Land Career Development Event, also referred to as Land Judging, is a contest of high school students that tests their interpretive skills regarding land and land use.
The contest setup crew at work the day before the contest. The crew was comprised of Natural Resources Conservation Service personnel from 3 field offices, the state office, and the tribal liaison office. The soil and land treatment factors are determined and scored on the contest answer key. The slope is determined using the instrument in the foreground, but the contestants have to estimate the slope class.
The Land Career Development Event promotes thoughtful consideration of soil and land use, management implications of respective uses, and the inherent capabilities and limitations of particular soil types in their natural settings. Four land use sites are analyzed for the contest: cropland, pastureland, forestland, and homesite. Each site contains a pit exposing soil layers along with other characteristics. Site boundaries are defined, and wooden stakes are set at an interval of 100 or 50 feet from which to judge the representative slope of the land between the higher elevation and lower elevation. In the case of Pastureland and Forestland, a representative area within the site boundary is defined with flagging and ribbon from which to judge the appropriate management assessment and procedures.
A maximum of 4 students comprises An FFA chapter team, led by an Ag teacher. For the contest, each student team member is divided among 4 groups. Each group will visit the 4 sites in rotating order. Soil and site characteristics are determined and graded, capabilities and limitations considered, and the appropriate treatments are chosen according to a point system in which the cumulative high score for each team determines the winner. The contest rules and regulations, plus contest directions are fully described in a booklet of FFA Land Career Development Event instructions. Scoring gives equal weight to the site related Land Class Factors and Recommended Land Treatments. Land Class Factors include site and soil characteristics, slope, major limiting factors, and land capability class. Recommended Land Treatments differ according to the intended use at each site and the associated Land Class Factors.
The initial district contest includes high school teams from several counties. First through fourth place winners of the district contests can compete in the state contest. The winner of the state contest becomes eligible to compete in either the national FFA Agronomy event or the International Land Judging Event in Oklahoma City, OK. Prior to the District contest, local county practice contests or county elimination contests take place where so desired.
Each team typically has 4 competing students. Prior to the beginning of the contest, the students form 4 columns so that no column contains more than one team member. In this picture, it looks as if 12 teams are competing in the contest. To start the contest, each column proceeds to one of the four sites: cropland, pastureland, forestland, and homesite. Fifteen or twenty minutes are allowed to determine the land factor and appropriate treatments per site. Then each column rotates to the next site.
As mentioned, each site has certain Land Class Factors which suggest recommended Land Treatments. Let’s dig a little deeper. Soil characteristics to be determined include surface and subsoil texture, depth of soil, slope, water erosion, permeability, and surface runoff. The slope of the site is calculated as a ratio of the percent of the difference in elevation between two stakes. The severity of topsoil erosion is gauged by comparing the visible amount of topsoil in the soil pit with a given thickness of original topsoil. Runoff is the rate that water moves across the soil surface. On sloping soils, overland flow on bare soil may detach surface soil particles and cause erosion. On level surfaces, the water can either infiltrate or remain on the surface for long periods. The severity of impact is determined by soil texture, amount of rainfall or runoff from adjacent slopes, permeability, and slope. These factors are used to determine the major limiting factors for cropland, pastureland, and forestland. They are surface texture, depth, slope, erosion, permeability, runoff, or none. If the Land Class Factors are misjudged, this may affect the scoring of the major limiting factor(s), the Land Capability Class, and the Recommended Land Treatment.
The Land Treatments, also referred to as recommended practices, vary at each of the four sites because they are dependent on the site objective. For example, cropland will be concerned with adequate nutrients, preventing erosion, water disposal systems, and maneuvering large equipment. Pastureland practices will depend on amount of pasture plants that can support animal stocking or maximize hay production, plus providing adequate nutrients and controlling undesirable plants. Forestland produces a crop with a long term trajectory. Integral to success is providing treatments that involve protection (firebreaks), appropriate stocking densities, preventing unwanted competition, harvesting (clearcutting or thinning), and site preparation for the next crop. Protection and initial establishment of seedlings is especially important because a tree crop has lots of economic input costs carried over a long time.
Contestants take a sample of topsoil and subsoil from the bags to determine soil texture. By moistening the sample, and working it up by hand, one can estimate the proportion of sand, silt, and clay. From texture, evaluations of soil and site properties like permeability and surface runoff can be made. Within the soil pit, two students look at the soil profile colors to determine soil drainage at the homesite.
The homesite is treated somewhat differently. For one thing, there are three parts to the contest categories: Land Class Factor, Urban land Limitations, and Problem Areas. The Land Class Factors have a few extra elements to consider - soil drainage, flooding, shrink-swell, and rocks. The soil properties and site characteristics of the homesite is the basis on which to judge the severity of problem areas based on home construction, roadways, lawns and landscape, and septic tank filter fields. The number of problem areas is given to the students, and they have to judge which problem areas have moderate and severe limitations based on the Land Class Factors.
Some information is provided on signs at each site and explained by site proctors. For example, site boundaries surrounding the soil pit that pertain to the area to be analyzed for the land treatment are flagged with ribbon. The number of recommended practices is given for cropland, pastureland, and forestland. For homesite, the kinds and severity of urban land limitations is determined by contestants, but the number of moderate and severe problem areas is given. Also, for the Pastureland and Forestland sites, a smaller area within the defined site boundary is flagged to represent the site as a whole that will be considered for the recommended Land Treatments.
The students come away from this experience with an increased awareness of the components of a landscape. As stated in the opening paragraph of the Land Career Development Event Rules and Regulations, the contest “is designed to help students learn more about land, difference in soils and their capabilities, methods of soil conservation and improvement, treatments to help in obtaining higher production, and selection of suitable home sites.”
A noted pioneer of soil science (pedology) in the US, Hans Jenny, referred to soil as the “ecstatic skin of the earth”. When one contemplates the natural world, the nexus where the spheres of influence of the planet come together is the soil. These spheres include the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and the pedosphere. Together, these spheres enable life on earth.
While the students may not be experiencing euphoria while getting their hands dirty, they certainly are gaining an enhanced awareness of their natural surroundings. A young soil scientist who assisted with setting up this contest explained to me how it was a land judging contest that sparked a moment of sudden realization that soil science was the career path he wanted to follow.
This heightened awareness is made possible by cooperative partnerships that include many entities. These partnerships include Future Farmers of America (FFA), Alabama State Department of Education, local organizations of the Alabama State Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), the United States Department of Agriculture agency of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the immeasurable cooperation of landowners who support the contest like local farmers and Perdido River Farms, the agricultural arm of the Poarch Creek Indians. For more information visit Alabama Future Farmers of America.