On July 30 2019, 8 high school teams participated in the first annual University of Kentucky High School Crop Scouting Competition, held at the Grain and Forage Center of Excellence at the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton, KY.  The contest is modeled after similar competitions held in four Midwestern states. Team leaders were recruited from Kentucky FFA chapters and Kentucky high school agriculture teachers, County Agents, and agribusiness leaders.  Participating teams were provided with educational modules and University of Kentucky resources to aid in training students for the competition. Established plots from Kentucky Agriculture Training School (KATS) field days were repurposed for the crop scouting competition. Student teams rotated through nine hands-on field scouting exercises focused on basic corn and soybean agronomics, pest ID (weeds, insects, diseases), field scouting and sprayer calibration. All stations focused on improving students’ awareness of real-world decision making in agriculture. Judges, primarily university Extension specialists and graduate students, scored teams at each station based on the students answers to various questions, and provided students with real-time feedback to make the station an educational opportunity. Each scouting exercise was scored, and prizes were awarded to the top three teams with the highest scores ($500 for 1^st place, $350 for 2^nd place, $150 for 3^rd place). The first and second place teams went on to represent Kentucky and compete in the national crop scouting competition held in Boone, Iowa on August 26.

A media summary was created through Agriculture Communications Service and can be accessed here:

http://news.ca.uky.edu/article/students-experience-agronomy-uk-through-crop-scouting-competition?j=151572&sfmc_sub=122679522&l=19069_HTML&u=4633064&mid=10966798&jb=0

A video news release can be viewed here: 

http://news.ca.uky.edu/video/students-experience-agronomy-through-crop-scouting-competition-video

Competition survey results:

Both team leaders and students completed surveys to assess the impact of the crop scouting competition. 100% of student participants indicated that they had a positive experience at the crop scouting competition, and over 90% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their knowledge of most subjects presented increased because of the crop scouting competition. Over 88% of students said their knowledge of integrated pest management (IPM) increased because of the competition, and over 90% of students agreed or strongly agreed the competition made them more aware of potential careers in agriculture. 

Team leaders indicated that student skills such as teamwork, problem solving and communication improved due to the crop scouting competition, and 100% of team leaders strongly agreed that the crop scouting competition helped prepare students for a future career in agriculture.  Team leader and student comments indicated that the interaction between Extension specialists and students was particularly helpful, and they enjoyed that it was a “…learning opportunity, not just a competition.”