A competition hosting agricultural colleges from around North America is coming soon to North Platte, Neb.

Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture faculty and students, based in Curtis, Neb., will be welcoming more than 600 students and coaches to the region.

From March 30 to April 2, the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture will host its student judging contests and competitions in 13 agriculture categories. NCTA hosts “Discover your Hidden Resource” NACTA Judging Conference 2022 with the support of colleagues from the University of Nebraska. Due to the pandemic halting the large gathering the past two years, it will be rewarding to again convene some of the top schools and students in Nebraska.

A tip of the hat goes to Brad Ramsdale, agronomy professor and interim unit lead of NCTA’s Agriculture Production Systems. Ramsdale serves on the NACTA board of directors and is the contest coordinator. For the past six to eight months, he’s been lining up arrangements for contests, judges, volunteers, lodging, meals, awards, tours and logistics for the 13 events.

This is the first time that NCTA has hosted the NACTA contest. North Platte has ideal venues and lodging to accommodate more than 500 people. Ramsdale reports that 40 colleges and universities have registered students in the two- and four-year agricultural contests.

In addition to the overall Ag Knowledge Bowl, which occurs with elimination rounds on two days, other contests are in ag business, ag communications, ag mechanics, computer application, crops, dairy judging, equine management, horticulture, livestock judging, livestock management, and precision agriculture.

As the host school, NCTA students do not compete. They will assist in support of the conference and events. Contests will occur daily at locations around the North Platte area. A dairy judging contest will be at the Dawson County Fairgrounds in Lexington, and the following day, the livestock judging contest will be in North Platte at the Lincoln County fairgrounds.

Partners assisting with venues and resources include Nebraska Extension in Dawson and Lincoln counties; North Platte Community College (Mid-Plains); University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center.

The headquarters will be at the D&N Events Center. The last time a Nebraska school hosted this event was in 2018 when it was held at Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

The complete event schedule is available online at ncta.unl.edu/nacta-2022.

Gossen is dean at NCTA.

Source: NCTA, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.