Soil
Judging has been a student activity at the University of Minnesota since about
1965. When first instituted the soil judging was only done at the American
Society of Agronomy National Soils Contest. As more teams began to want to
participate from Region V, the need for a regional contest developed. Teams in
Region V are from North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas Minnesota, and
Missouri. The teams that finish first or second at the regional contest are
eligible to attend the national contest. There are 8 regions that rotate
hosting the National Contest. The first Regional contest was in 1968. Dr.
Harold Arneman was the soil judging coach during this period. Since 1980 Dr.
Cooper has been the coach. The team competes at the yearly regional contest in
the fall and at national contests when eligible. The team has finished first at
the regional contest in 83,85,89, & 92.
Soil Judging requires that the students can work individually describing the soil horizons and as a team to write a description. This extra curricular activity provides students an opportunity to meet students from other similar programs at different universities and to gain experience in looking at a wide variety of soils. It is also looks good on your resume.
The 2005 Region V Soil Judging contest was hosted by the South Dakota State University and was held near Sturgis, South Dakota in the Black Hills, the week of September 25-29.
The soils of the Black Hills are different due to different bedrock and topography. We were able to experience a wider variety of soil orders and soil textures.
The dominant soil orders were Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Entisols. The team spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday describing the characteristics of the eight practice pits provided by the SDSU. We also had an all day field trip on Sunday looking at the Badlands and the Black Hills.
On the day of the contest we traveled from forested soils in the morning to dry prairie soils in the afternoon.
The contest started on Thursday with temperatures in the 50s but soon was near 90 as the afternoon sites were lower in elevation by 1000 feet. For a power point presentation of this contest go to Soil Judging in South Dakota - 2005
In 2002 the University of Minnesota hosted the National Soil Judging Contest near Red Wing, Minnesota.
In October 2004 the team went to northeast Nebraska. A power point presentation of that contest can be viewed at Soil Judging in Nebraska - 2004
The contest in the fall of 2006 was in eastern Kansas in the Flint Hills. Soil Judging in Kansas- 2006
In the fall of 2007 the regional soils contest will be in wester Iowa and hosted by Iowa State University.
Students interested in Soil Judging should take the course "Field Study of Soils" Soil 4511 to learn more about writing soil profile descriptions. Students can sign up for Soil 3521- Soil Judging and receive one credit for their participation.
Return to Dept. of Soil, Water & Climate OR Return to Soil Texture
Prepared by tcooper@umn.edu