youth crops programming – Views from VanDeWalle

Future Agronomists at Work

October 6, 2023 Brandy VanDeWalle

In 2013, I had the opportunity to observe a crop scouting competition conducted by Iowa State University and was fortunate to garner financial and organizational support to bring the program to Nebraska in 2014. Since that time, a group of states including Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Illinois have hosted contests and have been able to allow youth to experience crop production in other states.

The purpose of the competition is to provide students an opportunity to learn crop scouting and principles of integrated pest management (IPM) for corn and soybeans in Nebraska, to obtain knowledge and skills that will be helpful in future careers and to demonstrate newer crop scouting technologies.

On September 18, 2023, five states competed at the eighth annual Regional Youth Crop Scouting Competition at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center near Mead, Nebraska. Teams of youth participated by completing nine crop scouting exercises in field plots. This educational, hands-on program provided students an opportunity to learn crop scouting and principles of integrated pest management (IPM) for corn and soybeans, obtain knowledge and skills that will be helpful in future careers and to demonstrate newer crop scouting technologies.

The top two teams from Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana qualified for the competition. Extension faculty from Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois served as judges for the program and tested the teams’ knowledge on the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This included crop staging; looking for patterns of crop injury; disease, insect and weed identification; precision ag exercise; cover crops, etc.

Results from the 2023 competition were as follows:

First place — Iowa team Clayton County #1: Ben Gibson, Amelya Weigand, Keaton Klingman and Jacob Schilling.
Second place — Nebraska team Colfax County #2: Callen Jedlicka, Cody Jedlicka, Daphne Jedlicka and Justin Eisennman.
Third place — Indiana team Cascade FFA: Will Thompson, Zach Benter, Adryanah Hendershot, Ethan Tames and Evan Fishel.
Fourth place (tie) — Nebraska team Colfax County #1: Josh Eisenmann, Rylan Nelson and Hayden Bailey; and Iowa team Clayton County #2: Mindy Keehner, Henry Reimber, Cora Keehner and Carter Hillers

Also participating was the Indiana team of Heritage Hills FFA Chapter with Megan Steinmetz, Riley Steinmetz, Dani Beier, Trenten VanHorn and Owen Foertsch. From Illinois was Wesclin FFA with Camren Ferri, Michael Anderscavage, Lilly Biggs, Cole Friederich and Carson Richter, and Pontiac FFA with Jared Bressner, Brock Clement, Chancey Haas, Cole Rapp and Landen Wilson. Rice/Dakota County from Minnesota consisted of Nick Bayer, Molly Albers, Garrett Ostermann and Lucas Deplazes, and Sebeka FFA with Mindy Keehner, Henry Reimber, Cora Keehner and Carter Hillers.

More information about the crop scouting competition is available online at CropWatch. Click on the link “Crop Scouting Competition”.

This program was sponsored by the Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association, Nebraska Soybean Board, Ward Laboratories and UNL’s Doctor of Plant Health Program in collaboration with Nebraska Extension. For more information about the program, please contact Brandy VanDeWalle, Nebraska Extension educator, at (402) 759-3712.

Crops, Irrigation, Programming, Youth

Youth Learn Crop Scouting Skills

August 3, 2019August 1, 2019 Brandy VanDeWalle

group 0 On July 23, 2019, the sixth annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth was held in which seven teams from across Nebraska competed. It was held at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead, Nebraska on July 23, 2019. Teams of students (those completing 5-12th grades) participated by completing a written knowledge test and seven crop scouting exercises in field plots.

The purpose of the competition was to provide students an opportunity to learn crop scouting and principles of integrated pest management (IPM) for corn and soybeans in Nebraska, to obtain knowledge and skills that will be helpful in future careers and to demonstrate newer crop scouting technologies.

Results from the 2019 competition were as follows:

First place- Colfax County 4-H (R. J. Bayer, Jestin Bayer, Austin Steffensmeier, Logan Nelson, and Brad Kratochvil)

Second place – Kornhusker Kids 4-H Club #1 (Payton & Levi Schiller, Matthew Rolf, and Kaleb Hasenkamp)

Third place – Kornhusker Kids 4-H Club #2 (Landon Hasenkamp, Ethan Kreikmeier, James Rolf, and Ian Schiller)

Also participating was

Humphrey FFA with Bryce Classen, Jacob Brandl, and Mikayla Martensen

Twin River FFA with Keaton Zarek, Kyle Kemper, Jacob Czarnick, and Landon Cuba

Auburn FFA with Kellen Moody, Austin Youngquit, Braden Gerdes, and Riley Stukenholtz

Wayne FFA with Justus Greves, Noah Lutt, Tyler Reinhardt, Elle Barnes, and Alyssa Carlson

Top-scoring teams won prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. The top two teams will represent Nebraska at the regional competition held in Iowa on August 26, 2019.

Teams were expected to know the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This included crop staging; looking for patterns of crop injury; disease, insect and weed seedling identification; etc.

corn growth staging, maturity, development 2 — Kornhusker Kids team determine the corn growth during the program.

More information about the crop scouting competition are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth. Click on the link that says, “Crop Scouting Competition”.

This program was sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, the Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association and Farm Credit Services of America in collaboration with Nebraska Extension. If you know of a company or you would are interested in sponsoring the 2020 program, please contact me at brandy.vandewalle@unl.edu.

Crops, Programming, Youth

Youth Crop Scouting Competition

May 29, 2019May 24, 2019 Brandy VanDeWalle

Connecting Youth with Crops

Looking for a fun club project? Want to unite your club members? Running out of ideas for club meetings? If you answered, “yes” to any of these questions, help is on the way! Nebraska Extension is pleased to present the 6^th annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth. Youth interested in crops have the opportunity to learn about crop growth & development and basic crop scouting principles. Crop Scout Design (1)

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.

This contest will be held at the ARDC near Mead, Nebraska on July 23, 2019. The event will include both indoor and outdoor events. Teams of junior high and high school students (those completing 5-12^th grades) from across Nebraska are invited to participate. This event is limited to the first ten teams who sign-up!

Clubs or other organizations may enter a team composed of three to five participants. An adult team leader must accompany each team of students. Team leaders could be FFA advisors, crop consultants, extension staff, coop employees, etc.

Top-scoring teams win prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. Top two teams will be eligible for regional competition in August at Iowa this year.

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; etc. Other topics many include but are not limited to, 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/youth. Register at: https://go.unl.edu/cropscoutingreg

Teams must be registered by July 18. This program is sponsored by Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association, DuPont Pioneer, Farm Credit Services of America and Nebraska Extension.

Crops, Programming, Uncategorized, Youth

Youth Learn Crop Scouting Skills

July 27, 2018 Brandy VanDeWalle

At the end of the July I coordinated the fifth annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth in which four teams from across Nebraska competed. It was held in at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead, Nebraska on July 26, 2018. Teams of students (those completing 5-12th grades) participated by completing a written knowledge test and seven crop scouting exercises in field plots.

Results from the 2018 competition were as follows:

First place- Colfax County 4-H (Logan Nelson, Brad Kratochvil, Austin Steffensmeier & Korbin Kudera)

Second place – Kornhusker Kids 4-H Club of Cuming County (Payton & Levi Schiller, Matthew & James Rolf and Kaleb Hasenkamp)

Third place – Humphrey FFA Team #2 (Mikayla Martensen, Bryce Classen Jacob Brandl and Wyatt Wegener)

Also participating was Fillmore Central FFA with Carson & Brock Tatro, KayLynn Sieber, Kaylea Geiser and Gunner Gewecke.

Top-scoring teams won prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. The top two teams will represent Nebraska at the regional competition held in Nebraska on August 27, 2018.

Teams were expected to know the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This included crop staging; looking for patterns of crop injury; disease, insect and weed seedling identification; etc.

More information about the crop scouting competition are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth. Click on the link that says, “Crop Scouting Competition”.

This program was sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, the Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association and Farm Credit Services of America in collaboration with Nebraska Extension. If you know of a company or you would are interested in sponsoring the 2019 program, please contact me at brandy.vandewalle@unl.edu.

Crops, Programming, Youth

Connecting Youth with Crops

May 18, 2018 Brandy VanDeWalle

Looking for a fun project for 4-H or FFA youth? Want to unite your club members? Running out of ideas for youth projects? If you answered, “yes” to any of these questions, help is on the way! Nebraska Extension is pleased to present the 5^th annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth. Youth interested in crops have the opportunity to learn about crop growth & development and basic crop scouting principles.

This contest will be held at the ARDC near Mead, Nebraska on July 26, 2018. The event will include both indoor and outdoor events. Teams of junior high and high school students (those completing 5-12^th grades) from across Nebraska are invited to participate. This event is limited to the first ten teams who sign-up!

Top-scoring teams win prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. Top two teams will be eligible for regional competition in August at Nebraska.

More information about the crop scouting competition and instructions on how to register a team are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth. Register at: go.unl.edu/cropscoutingregistration. For more questions, contact me at brandy.vandewalle@unl.edu or (402) 759-3712.

Teams must be registered by July 18. This program is sponsored by Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association, DuPont Pioneer, Farm Credit Services of America and Nebraska Extension.

Crops, Programming, Youth

7th Annual Innovative Youth Corn Challenge

February 14, 2018February 2, 2018 Brandy VanDeWalle

iycc-cover Attention 4-H and FFA Youth! Do you enjoy being outside? Learning new things about crops? Considering a career involving crops, insects, diseases, soils, water or more? Do you want to help figure out how to feed our world’s growing population in a sustainable way?

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers are in high demand and will continue to be in future years. To engage youth in crop science based education, the Innovative Youth Corn Challenge (IYCC) was created as a partnership between the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Extension. Since the Innovative Youth Corn Challenge program’s inception in 2012, 35 teams have participated in the program with 20 teams successfully harvesting and analyzing their plot data. A total of 105 youth have participated. This contest, open to 4-H members or FFA members, guides participants through all aspects of corn production, as well as agricultural careers related to corn production.

2017 participants attended the banquet in January to receive recognition for their hard work.

Nebraska Extension and the Nebraska Corn Board are offering the seventh Innovative Youth Corn Challenge contest. This contest, open to 4-H members (age 10 & older as of Jan. 1st) or FFA members (in-school members), guides participants through all aspects of corn production, as well as agricultural careers related to corn production.

As a team (2 or more participants), youth will be challenged to implement a production practice different than normal to determine if they increased their yield. Economics and sustainability of the practice will also be considered. Yields, cropping history, and production information will be collected in the Corn Yield Challenge management summary.

Cash prizes and plaques are given. First place receives $1,000, second place receives $500, and third place receives $250. Sustainability, crop scouting and “extra mile” awards are also given as cash awards.

To participate in 2018, youth must complete and return an entry form by March 15^th to the Fillmore County Extension Office in Geneva, NE. Forms can be downloaded after January 1^st at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth/activities. For more information, contact Brandy VanDeWalle at brandy.vandewalle@unl.edu.

Crops, Youth

Making One Agronomist at a Time

September 8, 2017 Brandy VanDeWalle

Kornhusker Kids 4-H Club of Cuming County and Colfax County 4-H represented Nebraska in the regional youth crop scouting competition on August 28, 2017.

In late August, seven Nebraska youth traveled to Indiana to participate in the 2^nd Annual Regional Youth Crop Scouting Competition held at Purdue University’s Beck Ag Center near West Lafayette, Indiana. These youths scouted six fields for diseases, insects, abiotic/biotic disorders, weed identification and crop growth stage and development. Teams from Iowa and Indiana also competed. Nebraska teams ranked 3^rd and 6^th respectably. Between all three state competitions, 195 youth competed from Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana. Top two teams from each state competed at the regional competition. Congrats to all of the youth who not only networked with agronomic professionals, but also gained the most by improving life skills related to a potential career path. Next year’s regional competition will be hosted by Nebraska Extension.

While this is one program, which impacts a very small percentage of youth, it is very important to start training the next generation of ag leaders to feed our growing population. In fact, globally there is an effort to encourage youth in agricultural positions. According to the U.N. International Labor Organization (a specialized agency of the United Nations), globally there will be about 74.2 million unemployed young people (ages 15-24) in 2017 which is an increase of 3.8 million since 2007. While it is troublesome that those graduating high school and/or college are unemployed, this could present an opportunity for those in the agricultural industry. If we can create programs which spark an interest in agriculture, there is potential to attract youth to the agricultural industry.

Getting over the stigma that agriculture is a back-breaking with little room for advancement, while in fact it is quite the opposite. As educators, we should be promoting agricultural careers as “intellectually stimulating and economically sustainable” according to foodtank.com. Programs designed to encourage young people into agriculture are in numerous countries across the world including the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in the U.S., a variety of USDA initiatives and programs like Farm Africa for youth in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda or the International Fund for Agricultural Development Rural Youth Talents Program in South America. If you know of a young person undecided in his/her career path or a youth who is passionate about agriculture, let them know of the bright future and opportunities available in agriculture.

For more information on how to engage youth in crops, visit our UNL CropWatch site at http://cropwatch.unl.edu/cropwatch-youth.

Crops, Programming, Youth

Youth Crop Scouting Competition

May 21, 2017May 19, 2017 Brandy VanDeWalle

One of the statewide programs I coordinate is the Youth Crop Scouting Competition which engages youth in the crop sciences. It provides youth with real-world scenarios in crop production as they diagnose plant diseases, crop disorders, identify insects and weeds and other challenges producers currently face.

Registration is now open for the 2017 Youth Crop Scouting Competition to be held this August in eastern Nebraska. The contest is open to FFA and 4-H club members and will help those interested in crops test their skills and those new to crops better understand crop production.

To prepare for the contest youth are encouraged to learn about crop growth and development and basic crop scouting principles. If a group doesn’t know a lot about crops, they’re encouraged to ask a local agronomist to assist by providing a short lesson on crop production at regular meetings or outside of the meeting.

The crop scouting contest will be held at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center (ENREC, formerly ARDC) near Mead on Aug. 1. The event will include both indoor and outdoor events. Teams of three to five junior high or high school students (those completing 7-12th grades) from across Nebraska are invited to participate.

FFA Chapters or 4-H Clubs 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, coop employees, etc.

Top-scoring teams win prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. The top two teams will be eligible for regional competition in August at Indiana.

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; etc. Other topics may include but are not limited to 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 in the Youth section of CropWatch under “Crop Scouting Competition” and in the contest flyer. The program is limited to 10 teams so be sure to register soon! Teams must be registered by July 20.

This program is sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, the Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association, and Nebraska Extension.

Crops, Uncategorized, Youth

Innovative Youth Corn Challenge

February 24, 2017 Brandy VanDeWalle

Attention 4-H and FFA members! Do you enjoy being outside? Learning new things about crops? Considering a career involving crops, insects, diseases, soils, water or more? Do you want to help figure out how to feed our world’s growing population in a sustainable way?

Nebraska Extension and the Nebraska Corn Board are offering the sixth Innovative Youth Corn Challenge contest. This contest, open to 4-H members (age 10 & older as of Jan. 1st) or FFA members (in-school members), guides participants through all aspects of corn production, as well as agricultural careers related to corn production.

Each year youth are surveyed and an overwhelming majority indicate an improvement in knowledge in the areas of: economic thresholds to treat pests, crop scouting procedures, financial record keeping, determining if practices on a field are profitable and how to evaluate new products/practices on a field. One youth stated, “I learned about how much time and hard work is needed to care for corn.” Several other youth enjoyed meeting new people (as a result of the Innovative Youth Corn Challenge). Another participant said, “I realize what I do today matters for tomorrow.” iycc-cover

Cash prizes and plaques will be given to the first, second, and third place teams. First place will receive $1,000, second place will receive $500, and third place will receive $250. Sustainability, crop scouting and “extra mile” awards will also be given, each worth $200. A webpage and FaceBook page are available with resources to help participants complete their project that can be found at cropwatch.unl.edu webpage under “related topics” titled “youth and youth activities”.

To participate in 2017, youth must complete an online entry form by March 15^th to the Fillmore County Extension Office in Geneva, NE. Hard copy forms can also be downloaded. For more information, contact me at brandy.vandewalle@unl.edu.

Crops, Youth

Youth Crop Scouting Results

August 21, 2015August 21, 2015 Brandy VanDeWalle

Nebraska Extension is pleased to announce eight teams from across Nebraska competed in the second annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth. It was held in at the ARDC near Mead, Nebraska on August 4, 2015. Teams of students (those completing 7-12^th grades) participated by completing a written knowledge test and eight crop scouting exercises in field plots.

Results from the 2015 competition were as follows:

First place- Colfax County 4-H

Second place – Humphrey FFA

Third place – Amherst FFA

Also participating were

Ashland-Greenwood FFA
Sumner/Eddyville/Miller FFA with two teams
Pawnee City FFA with two teams

Top-scoring teams won prizes: $500 for first, $300 for second, $100 for third place.

Teams were expected to know the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This included crop staging; looking for patterns of crop injury; disease, insect and weed seedling identification; etc.

More information about the crop scouting competition are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth. Click on the link that says, “Crop Scouting Competition”. Next year’s competition will be held August 2^nd, 2015 at UNL’s ARDC again.

This program was sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, the Nebraska Soybean Board, in collaboration with Nebraska Extension.