Aggie hosts win crops contest for 2-year colleges

March 11, 2019                                                   

By Mary Crawford, NCTA News

CURTIS, Neb. – Older and newer faces gathered in Curtis Friday for the Collegiate Crops Contest hosted at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.

The Agronomy Department at NCTA, headed by Chair Brad Ramsdale, coordinated the contest for the four 2-year colleges and nine 4-year universities.

NCTA Dean Ron Rosati welcomed the nearly 100 students from 13 colleges, including several NCTA graduates who got their start in Curtis on Aggie teams coached by Dr. Ramsdale.

NCTA teams have won three consecutive national championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

”It was great to see three of our graduates back on campus,” Dean Rosati noted. “They took what they learned here at NCTA, and are applying it in their current programs.”

Those alumni now attend four-year institutions such as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Panhandle State University in Oklahoma.

Dalton Johnson of Gering and Aaron Doxon of Maywood attend UNL, and John Paul Kain of McCook is at Panhandle State.

The NCTA Aggie team led by Kyle Krantz of Alliance won the team title among the 2-year colleges.

Krantz was the top-placing individual with teammates Jacob Vallery of Plattsmouth third, Catherine Ljunggren of rural Hamilton County (Harvard) fifth and the Aggie team rounded out with Chase Callahan of Gothenburg.

Joining Krantz and Vallery in the top four from 2-year colleges were second place, Ashton Hawkins of Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College and fourth, Joey Pohlen of Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska. 

Of the 4-year schools, Kansas State University won the contest and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln placed second.

Agronomy and diversified agriculture students had studied plant, seed and weed identification; agricultural calibrations and methods for planting crops plus, proper weed and pest control measures; a written test, and more aspects of crop production.

Four-year schools included the University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, Iowa State University, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, West Texas A&M, Fort Hays State University, University of Wisconsin – River Falls, and Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Two-year schools included NCTA, Northeast Community College, Hutchinson Community College, and Eastern Oklahoma State College.

NCTA freshmen students participated in an unofficial capacity (not for points).

They were Amy Lammers of Axtell, Tyler Aschenbrenner and Ethan Aschenbrenner of Scottsbluff, Korbin Moore of Gothenburg, Colton Bell of York, and Clade Anderson of Otis, Kansas.

The next contest for the Aggies Crops Judging Team will be nationals on April 10-13 in Murray, Kentucky at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) competitions.