The Columbia FFA and the Boone County 4-H teams took top honors at the 10th annual Mid-America Grassland Evaluation Contest held in Springfield June 9-10. 

Twenty-four teams with 96 students from throughout Missouri, West Virginia, Arkansas and Ohio participated in the national competition. The contest was the final level after the students qualified in district and then state competitions.

Missouri FFA teams from Columbia and Aurora had an initial tie for top honors. Columbia won the tiebreaker by having a higher score in the plant identification portion of the competition with Aurora taking second place. The Clay County FFA and Ravenswood FFA teams, both of West Virginia, took third and fourth place honors respectively. 

Top-scoring FFA individuals from Missouri were:

Second: Mitch Kay, Aurora

Fourth: Brady Chasteen, Columbia

Top-scoring 4-H individuals from Missouri were:

First: Becca Hass, Aurora

Second: Rachael Cavener, Aurora

Third: Kody Henneke, Columbia

Fifth: Josh Remus, Columbia

Started in 1991, the contest is a cooperative effort of the Missouri Forage and Grassland Council, Missouri Department of Conservation, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Missouri Extension and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The objective of the contest is to train future farmers in more sustainable ways of managing grasslands for the benefit of both livestock and wildlife.

Source: Missouri Department of Conservation