The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Collegiate Crops Team took seventh place overall in the NACTA Judging Conference. UW-Platteville team members also placed individually at the contest.
UW-Platteville students participating in the events were Kylee Sanderson, Ben Acheson, April Molitor, Jay Long and Bre Broer. Jack Lichte and Isaac Ward were team alternates. The team was coached by Dawn Lee, Pioneer Greenhouse supervisor and lecturer in the School of Agriculture; Dr. Roger Higgs, professor emeritus; and Chris Keenen, a 1988 graduate from the UW-Platteville Soil and Crop Science program.
The NACTA Judging Conference consists of four parts: agronomic quiz, math practical, lab practical and crops and weed plant and seed identification. In preparation for the contest, students put in two two-hour practices a week, starting the first week of the semester, in order to learn how to identify crop and weed plants and seeds.
“I could not have gotten the team to this success without the help of Dr. Higgs and Chris Keenen,” said Lee. “I look forward to continuing to work with the students as they prepare for the 89th annual National American Royal Kansas City Collegiate Crops Contest and 94th annual National Chicago Collegiate Crops Contest.”
The NACTA Judging Conference was held in Modesto, California and had 72 students participating from 13 universities: UW-Platteville, Kansas State University, Iowa State University, West Texas A&M University, University of Minnesota-Crookston, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oklahoma State University, University of Tennessee at Martin, Fort Hays State University and Western Illinois University.
Funding for team travel was provided by the Doug and Jean Buhler Undergraduate Travel Impact Grant, generous donations made by alumni and friends to the UW-Platteville Foundation – Soils and Crops Teams Endowment Fund, and Alliance of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Societies.
For more information about the UW-Platteville Collegiate Crops Team, contact Lee at leedaw@uwplatt.edu.