National awards to 2-year and 4-year ag colleges

By NCTA News

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - National champions in recent collegiate agriculture contests ranging from soils and crops to livestock and horses, were from the states of Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska.

The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis hosted more than 500 students, plus coaches and instructors at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Contest, “Discover your Hidden Resources.”

Teams from 42 four-year universities and two-year schools (community colleges) competed in 13 NACTA Judging Contests. Accumulative scoring garnered from the competitions determined the overall sweepstakes awards.

Black Hawk Community College of Illinois won the two-year sweepstakes award. Northeast (Nebraska) Community College in Norfolk was the runner-up.

From four-year colleges, Illinois State University was sweepstakes winner with University of Minnesota-Crookston as runner-up.

“It was a wonderful conference in North Platte, with the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture hosting our NACTA counterparts for the national contests,” said Brad Ramsdale, NCTA agronomy professor and conference coordinator.

As event hosts, NCTA Aggie students did not compete for awards. Contestants came primarily from the Midwest but also as far away as Modesto, California.

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

In the multi-disciplinary quiz bowl competitions with double elimination rounds, the finals on Friday evening (April 1) announced top colleges from Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas and Iowa.

2-Year Knowledge Bowl:  1. College of Southern Idaho; 2. Joliet (Illinois) Junior College; 3. Northeast (Nebraska) Community College

4-Year Knowledge Bowl: 1. University of Wisconsin-River Falls; 2. Kansas State University; 3. Iowa State University.

The NACTA contest was not held in 2020 and 2021. The location for the 2023 event is to be announced when the host college is confirmed.

Complete results from top rankings in all disciplines are posted 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.