Collegiate soils judging contest brings seven university teams to Redfield for intensive soil studies
By Shiloh Appel
During the last week of September, from the 24th through the 29th, the Northcentral Regional Collegiate Soils Judging Contest was held in Redfield for the first, and possibly the last, time.
"What happens is, it gets rotated among all of these different states. So it might not be back here for seven or eight years. But they are not going to want it in Redfield, they are going to want to see a different part of South Dakota," said local soil scientist, Lance Howe."In our lifetime, it will probably never be in Redfield again. So it was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deal."
The contest brought about 75 college students from seven different universities to Redfield, and about 100 people in all, including professors. Most of the students that took part in the contest are in soils classes such as agronomy, or majoring in soils or environmental science. University teams that were present included South Dakota State University, the University of Minnesota, Iowa State, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Kansas State, and the University of Missouri.
"They said that this was the largest regional contest that they have ever had," said Howe.
According to Howe, South Dakota State University hosted the contest this year, and the National Resource and Conservation Service assisted them. Howe himself, who is with the soil division of the USDA and has an office in Redfield, was the go-to person to get the contest set up in Redfield.
"So we were asked about two and a half to three years ago if we wanted to host this regional contest here in Redfield," said Howe. "It takes about a two-year plan to do it because we have to get lab analysis of all the soils. So we had to dig the pits a year ago to get all of the lab samples in and then had to reopen them for the contest that was held here in Spink County."
The contest site consisted of 17 pits dug in various places throughout Spink County from north of Doland to southwest of Redfield and southwest of Tulare. Twelve of the pits were "practice" pits that the students utilized for the first three days, starting on Monday. Practice days included intensive study of the soil. Students averaged about an hour and a half to two hours studying at each pit.
"This is what the students have to do," said Howe. "They have to give the depth of each horizonation of the soil. They have to give soil texture and structure. They have to color the soil. All of our soils have color. So there is a color book that they have to match the soil to. Then they get to do interpretations such as water retention (how quick the water will go through the soil), Hydraulic conductivity, (if the soil depth is deep or if there is something restrictive) and soil wetness classification."
Howe went on to explain that the students also determine the landform and what the parent material of the soil is, whether or not it was glaciated, the slope of the land, and surface runoff due to the slope. The students also determined the taxonomy of the soil and completed site interpretations on whether the site would be suitable for roads and streets or some other type of dwelling.
"It is pretty intensive," said Howe.
On Thursday, the contest day, the students were hard at work from 8:30a.m. to 7p.m. at the pits. On Friday, September 29, the students were treated to an awards banquet before heading home.
Those who placed in the individual top ten were as follows: 1. Bryan Peterson (UNL), 2. Kimberlee Ewart (ISU), 3. Sara Bauer (UMN), 4. Sarah Higgins (UMO), 5. Laura LeCuyer (UNL), 6. Kelli Roush (ISU), 7. Samantha Teten (UNL), 8. Keren Duerksen (KSU), 9. Jacob Reinecker (KSU), 10. Cassie Tieman (UMN).
The top three teams will continue on to Nationals next spring. The top three teams were: 1. the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2. Kansas State University, 3. Iowa State University.
Looking back on the week, Howe said that the city of Redfield and land owners were "excellent" at welcoming the students and professors to the town.
"A lot of the producers worked with us to rotate their cattle so they weren't in there when we were in there," said Howe."The community support was great and the county support was excellent. From what I've heard, everybody was happy to see them and it should have been a good economic boost for Redfield!"
