FFA students from across Ohio test their skills at Holmes County soil competition

They came from Huron County. They came from Ashland County. They came from the counties of Morrow, Lorain, Crawford, Erie and more — high school students who came to Holmes County Tuesday, Sept. 23 to check out the soil.

The Rural and Urban Land Evaluation District FFA Soil Competition took place in Holmes County, where dozens of students from all around Eastern Ohio united to participate in two contests — evaluating soil for agricultural purposes and evaluating soil for building and construction purposes.

A total of 19 schools from throughout the district that extends from Holmes County clear up to Lake Erie attended the event at the Holmes County Home, where the staff from Holmes Soil & Water Conservation District teamed up with the district to host the event.

According to Jamie Chenevey, West Holmes Schools FFA adviser, the students in both groups take two tests including a general knowledge test and a soil survey test.

The preparation for the event included digging up four separate soil pits in the field next to the County Home, each providing a different glimpse into the variety of soils located on the premises.

Every participant received 20 minutes at each station to explore the soil and record what they saw, as well as 20 minutes to test at two different testing stations.

“This event provides some pretty important life experience for many of these students,” Chenevey said. “From what to do with water gathering in the yard to some of them wanting to explore working with soil and water as a career, they are learning invaluable information.”

That information would include figuring out if a field isn’t producing crops, what needs to be done, from adding nitrogen and reducing the pH level to adding ground cover, and in the case of building, if tile could help solve a water leaking issue or if a basement could be built.

The top four teams from each contest qualified for the state contest, which will take place later in October.

“We actually shared hosting this event this year with Ashland,” Chenevey said. “I contacted Soil & Water, who then contacted the County Home because it provided a nice variety of soil.”

As for the SWCD’s involvement, Darby Sherman, Holmes SWCD conservation specialist, said they were excited to be able to get on board and lend a hand in hosting the event.

“Typically, in soil competitions, Soil & Water and Natural Resource Conservation Service help with the technical side of judging the pits. Our goal was to find a location with suitable soil types that has great diversity, that has a good place to conduct the test,” Sherman said.

She said they looked at various locations and discussed topics like soil variety and diversity in landscapes that would be located in a fairly compact area with the capacity to host the students with plenty of parking.

She said the County Home, which is owned by Holmes County under the jurisdiction of the county commissioners, proved to be the perfect place because it offered the parking and pavilion for the test taking.

“The County Home fit every single requirement we needed,” Sherman said.

She said SWCD initially created a practice pit to explore the soil survey.

“Ideally, you want a soil pit that doesn’t have any disturbances, filled with natural materials that won’t be confusing to the kids,” Sherman said. “That creates a good, solid profile.”

Excavator Clay Armstrong provided the service of digging the test pits, which unearthed the natural soils several feet below the surface. The students were then invited to walk down into the pit and survey each to glean all the necessary information needed for the testing.

Sherman said seeing so many kids invested in learning more about soil and water was exciting, and they were all focused and working hard to compete.

Trevor Berger, Holmes SWCD program director, said the County Home provided an ideal area, and they got a great, overcast day to provide the service for the contest.

“It’s neat to see the great partnerships with the different entities involved,” Berger said. “It’s important to get these young people out here to get them some experience."