On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Monroeville FFA's Rural and Urban Soil Judging teams went to the county soil judging contests. The contest was held on ground farmed by Brian Deppen. The contest is organized by local FFA chapters in cooperation with the Huron County Soil and Water Conservation office.

The urban soil judging team is made up of Terra Ilg, Bryan Fritz, Kurt Fahler, Olivia Smith, Jordan Williams, Lydia Leber and Cheyenne Shank. The rural soil team is Eric Leber, Brent Bollenbacher, John Scheid, John Clayton, Reid Stieber, Emily Lewis and Aaron Gates.

Both teams judged three pits and took a general knowledge test consisting of information learned in Agriculture Science and a soil survey test which challenges the students to locate information using the Huron County soil survey books.

The urban soil judging team has to evaluate soil pits and determine if the sites are suitable to build houses, local roads, driveways, lawns and landscapes, or construct septic systems on. The rural soil judging team evaluates the soil based on its ability to be used for crop production. All contestants are required to calculate slope, soil texture, restrictive layers, erosion and drainage capabilities.

The rural team finished first overall and the urban team finished second overall. Eric Leber had the highest score (412) of all contestants in the rural contest. Reid Stieber was third highest and Aaron Gates was sixth highest for the Monroeville team. Terra Ilg placed fourth overall in the urban soil judging.

Teams competing were Willard, Margaretta, Western Reserve, South Central, Bellevue, Monroeville and New London.

It was a very successful day for the Monroeville FFA's urban and rural soil judging teams.

The district contest will be held next with the top five teams in each contest advancing to state.