Winners of the National FFA Agronomy Career Development Event (CDE) were announced Thursday, October 27, at the annual awards Ceremony.
The event was held in conjunction with the 95th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis. Mr. Jamie Bultemeier of A&L Great Lakes Laboratories of Indiana served as superintendent of the event.
The top ten individuals and the national winning team members received cash awards to recognize their success in the event.
The National FFA Agronomy CDE is a competitive event that allows students to apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations. Participants' knowledge of agronomic sciences was tested through several levels of competition including developing solutions for problematic scenarios; identification of seeds, insects, soil and crops, diseases and disorders, as well as management practices and discussing agronomic issues affecting production agriculture today.
The event, held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis is one of many educational activities at the National FFA Convention & Expo in which FFA members practice the lessons taught in agricultural education classes.
The team from North Dakota, which was represented by the Fessenden-Bowdon FFA Chapter, earned a gold rating on the national level and finished in seventh place out of 39 teams.
Team members Joshua Crowder and Regan Jones earned individual gold awards while Delaney Erfle and Addy Neumiller earned silver individual ratings and finished in the top 19 out of 144 that participated in the national event. Both Crowder and Jones were in the top 30 in the event which included 156 total participants.
The North Shelby Chapter of Missouri was named the National Champions and Glade Jolliff of North Union FFA of Ohio was named the high individual of the event. The remaining top three chapters include North Union, Louisiana and Nebraska. The Texas and Kansas teams placed fifth and sixth overall.
The Fessenden-Bowdon team competed in the virtual section of the National event on October 6 at the Fessenden-Bowdon High School and then completed their practicums at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Wednesday, October 26.