FFA soils judging contests were held at the first Farm Progress Show in 1953. Soils judging has been held at the Farm Progress Show each time it returned to Illinois beginning with the 50th anniversary show near Henning in 2003. It returns for the 2023 Farm Progress Show at Decatur.

The soils judging event will be at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 29. Gary Steinhardt, Purdue Extension soils specialist and a judge for the contest, says there will be four pits, plus a practice pit.

The contest will be on the Farm Progress Show site on land farmed by cooperating host farmers. Host David Brix selects the judging location and provides equipment and manpower to dig and secure pits.

This is usually the first soils judging invitational contest of the season. It’s the only contest that features cash awards, thanks to contest sponsors. Farm Credit Mid-America sponsors cash awards for the Indiana division, and Farm Credit Illinois sponsors cash awards for the Illinois division.

Awards for each state division are:

That’s a total of $1,000 in cash awards per state, or $2,000 for the entire contest.

How it works

The contest is conducted cafeteria-style, meaning students can go through at their own pace. Dennis Bowman, an Extension educator in commercial agriculture at the University of Illinois, coordinates with other Extension staff to facilitate the contest. Awards will be presented the same day, with Farm Credit personnel presenting awards to winners in their respective states.

Bowman says it’s a great opportunity for FFA students interested in soil judging to tune up for the soil judging season. Answers are provided at the practice pit so that beginning students can get a feel for the contest, he notes. It also helps all students get acclimated to local soils.

Steinhardt notes that the Farm Progress Show site contains both prairie and timber soils. Effort will be made to feature at least some native Prairie soil pits, so students and adults get a feel for the predominant soils in the area, Steinhardt says. Students will judge two homesite pits and two agriculture pits, rating soils on nine specific properties.

Contestants make recommendations for managing crops and preventing erosion.

To learn more, contact Bowman at 217-244-0851 or [email protected].

The 2023 Farm Progress Show is Aug. 29-31. Learn more at FarmProgressShow.com.