Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- University of Wisconsin-Platteville agriculture students recently had the opportunity to test their knowledge at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Judging Conference held in Wooster, Ohio April 16-18. The UWP agribusiness management contest team and the Agricultural Quiz Bowl team finished first and second, respectively, in the national competition.

The faculty advisor for the teams, Charles Steiner, professor of agricultural business at UWP, said that this was the first time in years UWP has been represented in either the Quiz Bowl or agribusiness management competitions at NACTA, although crops and livestock judging teams have competed in the event more recently. Steiner added that students from the Ag-Business Club were looking for opportunities and the NACTA contests offered a chance to test knowledge outside of the classroom as well as network with other students and visit a different campus, in this case the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio.

The management contest included a 100-point agribusiness knowledge exam and two 100 point problem-solving sections. Exam questions tested several different areas of agriculture, including finance, economics, marketing, business law and entrepreneurship. The two problem-solving exercises required calculations related to financial analysis, marketing problems, budgeting, production costs and depreciation methods.

UWP won the management competition and was crowned national champion. Joel Lasack,a junior agribusiness major from Oxford Junction, Iowa, and Tessa Sieman, a junior agribusiness major from Cleveland, placed second and third respectively. "I was not sure what to expect when I entered the competition. All I did was do my best. I was surprised to receive third place overall, but I was happy that I did so well to help my team succeed," said Sieman.

Fellow management team members Keith Becker, a junior agribusiness and political science major from Eleva, and Evan Trenkamp, an agribusiness major from Preston, also finished in the top 10. "We didnt set a goal to win, with this being our first time competing," commented Trenkamp, "We wanted to have a good showing and use it as a learning experience for the future".

Contact: Charles Steiner, UWP professor of agricultural business, (608) 342-6067, steinerc@uwplatt.edu. Written by: Ryan Broege, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, broeger@uwplatt.edu