<
https://civileats.com/2025/06/24/a-national-soil-judging-contest-prepares-college-students-to-steward-the-land/>
"On an early spring morning in central Wisconsin, the hills were still and
serene under a frosty grey sky. Then the fight songs began. More than 200
students from 27 colleges and universities across the U.S. had converged in
Portage County for an unlikely competition. Their arena was not a court, a
field, or a pool, but a pit dug five feet into the sandy red earth. Shouts of
“Go Terps!” and “Hail Purdue!” erupted as the competitors fired themselves up
to walk into the underbelly of the world.
Each year at the National Collegiate Soil Judging Contest, students gather to
classify soils based on their color, texture, and structure. The team whose
analyses most closely match those of professional soil scientists return to
campus with a gleaming 3-foot trophy, the coveted Stanley Cup of soils.
There is more than school pride at stake, however. This competition teaches the
next generation of soil scientists how to manage the soils used to grow our
food and support our agricultural infrastructure. Their work helps farmers
produce more nutritious crops, combat erosion, and capture and store carbon
underground. As the Trump administration’s budget cuts put the field of soil
science on shaky ground, students here remain committed to treating soil as the
life-giving—and downright competition-worthy—resource that it is."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-memory-choirs/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
