The team of Wyatt Schafer, Preston Miller, Jace Beer and Haley Maynus placed fifth and will compete at the national contest in Oklahoma in May. Photo by Mariah Roberts.

By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Wawasee FFA had three teams compete at the Indiana State FFA soils career development event in Benton County, Saturday, Oct. 21.

The senior division team of Jace Beer, Haley Maynus, Preston Miller and Wyatt Schafer placed fifth out of 49 FFA teams and will be competing for the National Championship in Oklahoma in May 2024.

This is the fifth team from Wawasee to reach the nationals since 2010, with numerous other individuals and teams reaching that level from 1974-2009.

There were 354 4-H and FFA members from all across the state that competed in the Indiana state FFA soils career development event. Participating teams must have qualified earlier this fall by placing high enough at their area contest. Students learn to correctly identify physical properties of a soil site such as texture, color, natural soil drainage, previous erosion, parent material, landform, and slope of the location. Then use that information to make recommendations for farming practices or construction and septic proposals for homesites.

Chris Evans uses the ribbon method to determine soil texture at the area contest. Photo by Mariah Roberts.

“They have worked so hard,” said Mariah Roberts, FFA advisor. She stated a couple students have judged since they were in middle school, giving them four to six years of experience, but most of the soil team members are first year judgers. “To have done this well takes a lot of time and commitment.”

Placing 28th out of 49 was the second senior division team of Gabe Ihnen, Audrey Miller, John Reiff and John Wilkinson.

Cavan Tom also participated as Wawasee’s alternate and worked hard to be ready to step in on a team if he was needed.

In the Junior Division, Wawasee placed 11th. Team members are Jenna Beer, Anna Bowling, Trevor Roberts and Maisie Schafer.

Roberts explained how the teams practice, which has been twice a week before school for 50 minutes since Aug. 22. It should be noted being a member of the team is not required by a choice of the students, some of whom are second generation soil judgers.

A lot of area is covered during practices. The students and Roberts talk about and look at/feel examples of soil physical properties: parent material — how did the soil get in that location hundreds/thousands of years ago? “In this part of Indiana, it either got here during or after the ice age — the bedrock was transformed by glaciers scraping across the top (we call that a glacial till parent material), the glacier melting (glacial outwash), the dry periods after the glaciers (created eolian sand dunes) or soils were created by water erosion more recently (alluvial or overwashed soils in low-lying areas that are often flooded),” explained Roberts.

There’s also texture. “We have about 35 samples that students use to practice the ribbon soil method, they determine if the soil is sandy, moderately sandy, medium/loamy, clayey or moderately clayey,” said Roberts.

Another physical property is natural soil drainage. In this area students learn where to look for the drainage diagnostic zone. Roberts explained this is usually 10-30 inches below the soil’s surface, but in some soils you need to look deeper, underneath the black topsoil.

Team members also talk about how many of these pieces fit together logically. Roberts explained soils that have a parent material formed by glaciers tend to have higher clay content, and “when there is a higher clay content, we are on the lookout for drainage problems. Soils that are sandier, are almost always well drained, but if the water table is high in a certain spot, then it is possible they are poorly drained because there’s naturally a lot of water beneath the soils surface.”

Wyatt Schafer analyzes the soil properties to make recommendations for a potential home that may be built on this site. Photo by Mariah Roberts.

The final aspect is learning how to make recommendations. Roberts explained there are a set of “rules” students learn for each agriculture or homesite practice. A standard soil evaluation scorecard is used for the properties and best practices and recommendations.

The properties portion of the scorecard calls for choices in parent material, slope, landform, surface soil color group, previous erosion, surface texture, subsoil texture and natural soil drainage. The practices cover land use overview, erosion and compaction potentials, buffers and cover crops, cropping practices, tillage practices, water management, plant nutrient application and nutrient pollution potential.

There are lessons learned in soils judging to propel a person toward success in life:

Commit — knowing all good things take time.

Believe in yourself and be optimistic — encouraging others and gently pushing to be better every day.

Be coachable and stay humble, knowing there’s always more to learn.

Focus — work when its time, have fun when its time.

Supporters and life/luck go your way — Others may have done the above, but may not have made it as far.

While soil judging takes a lot of time and patience, participants are excited and enjoy their endeavors. “Mrs. Roberts told me I should try in fifth grade and I liked it so I continued to do it. All of it,” said Preston Miller.

“I chose soil judging because I want to learn more about ag and what grows our plants,” said John Wilkinson. “I have learned all kinds of stuff but the most important was never say never or always.”

AJ Evans chose soils judging “because I love nature and everything to do with it and I learned what different kinds of soil there are and how they affect houses and plant growing.”

Jenna Beer is following in her brothers’ footsteps. “I chose to do soil judging because my brothers did it and was interested. Also my mom thought I would be good at it.

“I learned how to see if the soil would be good enough to build a house on.”