Youth Crop Scouting Competition — Connecting Youth with Crops
June 19, 2015
Youth can learn about crop growth and development and basic crop scouting principles by participating in the second annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth. Preparing for the contest can be a great activity for your youth organization.
Don't know a lot about crops? Ask a local agronomist to assist by providing a short lesson on crop production. You can have the agronomist meet with youth a little during each meeting or outside of the meeting. This is one way to engage those youth interested in crops.
The contest will be held at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead August 4 and include both indoor and outdoor events. Teams of junior high and high school students (those completing 7th-12th grades) from across Nebraska are invited to participate.
Clubs or other organizations may enter a team composed of three or four participants. An adult team leader must accompany each team of students. Team leaders could be FFA advisors, crop consultants, extension staff, co-op employees, etc.
Top-scoring teams win prizes: $500 for first, $300 for second, $250 for third and $100 for fourth place.
Teams will be expected to know the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This includes:
- crop staging;
- looking for patterns of crop injury;
- disease, insect and weed seedling identification;
- pesticide safety,
- nutrient disorders, and
- herbicide injury.
More information about the crop scouting competition and instructions on how to register a team are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/cropwatch-youth. See "Crop Scouting Competition."
The registration fee of $50 per team will be refunded to those teams who participate in the competition. Payment by check is due along with the registration form by July 22.
This program is sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, the Nebraska Soybean Board, and Nebraska Extension.
Brandy VanDeWalle
Extension Educator
