Lana Koepke Johnson | Agronomy and Horticulture
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Soil Judging Team dug into the Soils Judging Contest at the 2025 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture judging conference in Canyon, Texas, April 9-12.
The students readied their soil knives and rock hammers taking first place in the Soils Judging Contest in a face-off with about 80 students from 14 other four-year colleges and universities from across the United States.
Nebraska’s team, made up of eight students from the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, includes:
- Charlotte Brockman, senior agronomy major
- Michael Clover, senior environmental science major
- Adrian Cox, junior integrated science major
- Matt Girard, senior environmental science major
- Sydney Honaker, sophomore environmental science, and fisheries and wildlife majors
- Nathan Kufner-Rodriguez, senior environmental science major
- Anna Newcome, junior plant biology and environmental science majors
- Promise (PJ) Smeal, sophomore plant and landscape systems major
“This is my second year on the team, my fourth competition, but my first individual trophy,” Newcome said. “While every competition feels like a win, being able to celebrate with my teammates, this time I could truly be proud of what I had accomplished. It’s a sigh of relief, knowing I put my all into something and it paid off."
Brockman joined the soil judging team as a freshman and stuck with it because it was an opportunity to get her hands dirty and build a community of friends. This was her eighth and final contest with the team.
“Being a member of the soil judging team means you commit to learning something new every day you are in the pit, including days it's raining, snowing, blowing or the sun is beating down,” Brockman said. “While my future may never include being a pedologist, I will always reflect on my experiences in the pit, with friends, learning new things and never being afraid to get dirty.”
The team has been coached by Judith Turk, pedologist with the Conservation and Survey Division in the School of Natural Resources, and Becky Young, agronomy and horticulture assistant professor of practice, since 2017.
"This was our first time participating in the NACTA Soils Judging Contest since Judy and I started coaching, so there was a bit of a learning curve for both coaches and students this semester,” Young said. “The scorecard categories and options, as well as some of the contest formatting and rules, were different from the other contests we've participated in, but everyone worked hard, and we were able to come out on top in the end.”
Soil judging is an educational experience that allows undergraduate students to competitively evaluate soil’s physical properties and local site characteristics and interpret these evaluations into land-use recommendations. In addition, soil judging can be a way to gain valuable hands-on experience evaluating soils in the field, which is essential for a soil scientist, agronomist or land manager.
The 2025 NACTA Judging Conference was hosted by the Department of Agricultural Sciences at West Texas A&M University, which included 18 total judging events for hundreds of students from 2-year and 4-year institutions with agricultural academic programs.
“We are now setting our sights on the Region 5 Soil Judging Contest which will be hosted by the University of Nebraska-Omaha in fall 2025,” Young said.
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/zf9j