30 stations worth 2 points each (60 pts).
Each station will have photographs or samples of crop pr weed plants, plant parts, growth stages, field problems, nutrient deficiencies, herbicide injury symptoms, fertilizers, pesticides, seed samples, pesticide labels, seed bags, data tables, equipment, insects, diseases, etc.
Questions may require identification, interpretation, calculation, or evaluation of the display material to answer correctly.
These stations represent common activities in laboratory classes, including crop scouting, investigating agronomic production problems, or field trips in crop production/soil management courses. For example, contestants may have to:
- Identify common crop diseases and symptoms (see attached list, to be provided during contest)
- Identify common crop insects and damage (see attached list, to be provided during contest)
- Identify/describe common crop production and soil management practices from photos, illustrations, or displays.
- Evaluate various crop production or soil health problems from photos, illustrations, or displays.
- Identify specific plant and seed structures, crop growth stages, or developmental characteristics on plant samples or photos.
- Recognize common nutrient deficiency symptoms (N, P, K, S, Fe) on both dicot and grass crops.
- Recognize common herbicide injury symptoms on weeds and crops.
- Read/interpret information from a commercial seed bag (germination, purity, seed size, noxious weeds, variety or hybrid identification, genetically modified traits, refuge requirements, seed treatments applied, recommended seeding rates, planter adjustments, recognize classes of pedigreed seed from standard color of tags, etc.).
- Interpret information on insecticide, fungicide, or herbicide label, including composition of active ingredients, common/chemical names, formulation, agricultural use requirements, precautionary statements, environmental restrictions, and recommended rates/application requirements for use on specific crops and/or soils.
- Describe common fertilizer carriers (major nutrient supplied, typical analysis, common name) and interpret information on a fertilizer bag.
- Recognize common pesticide formulations and standard abbreviations.
- Determine proper sprayer nozzle tip size and type, screens, pressure, etc for pesticide applications.
- Identify and explain the purpose of items such as agricultural lime, inoculum, seed treatments, soil amendments, etc.
- Use a soil textural triangle to name soil textural class.
- Determine soil texture by feel, distinguish between types of soil structure, relate soil color to properties.
- Interpret information found in soil test report.
- Identify stored/processed crop products and common livestock feed crop ingredients (silage type, hay type, alfalfa pellets/cines, soybean meal, cottonseed meal/hulls, wheat bran, corn meal, beet pulp, dried distillers’ grains, flaked or ground grains, etc.).
- Match various food and/or industrial products with the crops (or classes) from which they are made.
- Evaluate crop quality by ranking two or more samples of hay, silage, seed, cotton. Give typical levels for quality factors in grain/forage crops (protein content, oil content, etc.).
- Write commercial grade and determining factors for market grain samples given quality factors and official FGIS grain standard tables.
- Interpret data from tables or graphs (i.e. analyze a variety trial based on LSD mean comparison statistic, select proper spray nozzle tip for given conditions from manufacturer’s spraying equipment manual, read a calibration nomograph for a sprayer or planter, interpret crop yield response to different input levels, determine economic threshold from pest counts vs yield response)