National agriculture contest to draw 600 to North Platte

National agriculture contest to draw 600 to North Platte

Students participate in the plant identification portion of an NCTA Crops Judging Contest. The national contest hosted in North Platte this week by the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis has 600 attendees. Crops and livestock judging draw the most competitors. (NCTA File Photo)
Students participate in the plant identification portion of an NCTA Crops Judging Contest. The national contest hosted in North Platte this week by the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis has 600 attendees. Crops and livestock judging draw the most competitors. (NCTA File Photo)

by NCTA News

Students of agriculture will vie for top honors this week in a national contest of 40 two-year and four-year colleges from across the U.S.

The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis is host to nearly 600 students and coaches at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Contest, “Discover your Hidden Resources.”

Teams travel to conference headquarters in North Platte. Events are held at four locations around the community, with the dairy judging Thursday at the Dawson County Fairgrounds in Lexington.

“This is our first NACTA contest since 2019 so everyone is looking forward to meeting again,” said Brad Ramsdale, NCTA agronomy professor and coordinator of this year’s national event.  "We have colleges coming from both east and west coasts, and from as far north as Crookston, Minnesota, and Texas A&M to the south of Nebraska,” said Ramsdale.

Students compete in 13 contests from Thursday through Saturday, including a first round of the Knowledge Bow on Thursday, with the second round and finals Friday.

Contests are in Ag Business, Ag Communications, Ag Mechanics, Computer Application, Crops, Dairy Judging, Equine Management, Horticulture, Livestock Judging, Livestock Management, and Precision Agriculture.

Event sites are the D & N Events Center, Lincoln County Fairgrounds, Mid-Plains Community College and the University of Nebraska West Central Research Extension and Education Center.

Activities conclude with the Saturday evening awards banquet. A schedule and maps are at: https://ncta.unl.edu/nacta-2022.

Part of the University of Nebraska system, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture is a two-year institution with a statewide mission of preparing students for successful careers in agriculture, veterinary technology and related industries. NCTA is known for its affordable tuition, high job-placement rate for its graduates, and for the success of student teams in competitive activities including crops judging, ranch horse events, livestock judging, shotgun sports, stock dog trials, and intercollegiate rodeo. The college is consistently ranked as one of the best two-year schools in the nation.