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The annual three county Soil Judging Contest was
set up for Tuesday, October 6th, but had to be postponed until the next day
because of a downpour. We had to round up some pallets to put in the pits to be
able to have it on Wednesday. Thanks to Altamont Planter's Farm Center for the
pallets. We actually had two contests that day - one started at noon, and the
second started at 3:30. Some of the schools couldn't get permission to come
during school hours, hence the second contest. Fayette and Effingham Counties
switch off on where the contest is held. This year it was Effingham's turn. We
went north of Altamont on the Don Schmidt farm. Like usual, the students had a
practice pit and four pits to judge. They had to score each pit on such things
as: topsoil depth, texture, structure, color, permeability and percent of slope.
Then they have to determine the amount of tillage the farmer can do given four
different crop rotations to keep the soil loss on the particular soil type and
slope below the tolerable soil loss limit. It's really a tough contest and
teaches the students a lot about our soil resource and what's necessary to
maintain it. This year's winner was South Central. |
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301 South Third Street |
