50 teams with 3 or 4 member teams and top three scores counting towards the team total.	John Gaska, Superintendent Department of Agronomy University of Wisconsin-Madison 1575 Linden Drive Madison, WI  53706 608-444-4924 jmgaska@wisc.edu

1. To demonstrate basic knowledge of agronomic sciences.

2. To explore career opportunities, skills, and proficiencies in the agronomy industry.

3. To determine the ability to identify agronomic:

Crops	Diseases
Weeds	Plant Nutrient Deficiencies & Disorders
Seeds	Grain Grading
Insects	Crop Inputs and equipment

4. To evaluate real world scenarios and make sound agronomic decisions.

5. To demonstrate an understanding of integrated pest management and best management practices.

    

The event will consist of two basic parts. An Annual Practicum consisting of an agronomic quiz, plant identification, soils and grain grading will be used every year. A Rotational Practicum consisting of inutrient deficiency, plant diseases, and pesticides will be emphasized in 2008 and even-numbered years thereafter. In odd-numbered years, general fertilizer knowledge, and insect identification will be highlighted.

The contest point values are as follows:
Total Points = 700 (70 Questions)

EVENT RULES

1. Team size will be three or four members and the top three scores will count towards the team total.
2. Due to the lack of time and space, there will be no team activities; all work shall be done individually.
3. All schools and participants will be given an ID number by which they will be designated.
4. The contest superintendent reserves the right to administer the contest in the most fair and practical manner deemed appropriate.
5. Any cheating will result in disqualification of that person and their entire team from this event.

1. Equipment -- Students must have two sharpened #2 pencils, a clipboard, and an electronic calculator.

2. The event will contain:

Total Points = 700 (70 Questions)

A. Annual Practicum (520 points)

General Knowledge Examination (20 multiple choice questions, 200 pts )

Examples:

__B___ 1. The growth habit of winter wheat is a) summer annual b) winter annual

c) perennial d) biennial

__A___ 2. The test weight per bushel for wheat is a) 60 b) 58 c) 56 d) 48 lbs.

__C___ 3. Soybeans grown in Wisconsin are of what growth type a) perennial

b) determinate c) indeterminate d) axillary

Plant and Seed Identification (20 Identifications, 200 pts.)

Participants will identify 20 weed and/or crop plants or seeds. A complete list of weed and crop species is listed below.

Soils (10 questions, 100 pts)
Participants will identify various soil textures and analyze a soil survey

Grain Grading (2 classes, 20 pts)
Participants will grade two crop sample classes. Grain grading in accordance with the Official U.S. Standards for Grain

B. Rotational Practicum (2008-Even-numbered year events) (180 points)
Note: Corn and soybeans will be the only crops used in this section. Only pesticides used on corn and soybeans will be included.

Plant Nutrient Deficiencies and Disease Identification (80 pts)
Participants will identify deficiencies and know corrective measures and identify various diseases and disorders.

Pesticides (100 pts)
Participants will use pesticide labels to makerecommendations, answer questions about rates and do calculations based on pesticide active ingredient and label information.

Top team and individual scores will be recognized. Final results will be announced on the UW-Madison-CALS website @ http://www.cals.wisc.edu/students/ffa/FFAContestHome.htm

The Wisconsin Crop Improvement Association will recognize the top team with a monetary award.

REFERENCES

To narrow the reference list for this exam, one reference will be the main source of material for the 2008 Agronomy CDE. The Field Crop Scouting Manual contains 7 chapters and over 400 pages of text and color photos. This book could be used as part of any standard Wisconsin high school agronomy curriculum as well as for preparing for the FFA Agronomy CDE.

It is not imperative that this reference be purchased in order to prepare for the contest, but it reduces the number of reference materials needed for a contest of this type. All the information contained in this reference are basic agronomy principles and also may be found in a number of other agronomy related publications.

The latest version of the Field Crop Scouting Manual is available as a bound version for purchase (limited quantities) or online for printing on-site. Bound versions of the Field Crop Scouting Manual can be purchased by contacting:

Bryan Jensen
IPM Program
1630 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone:608-263-4073
e-mail: bmjense1@wisc.edu
Cost is $35/manual + $5 shipping/handling.

The free online version can be dowloaded in two parts at:
http://ipcm.wisc.edu/Publications/tabid/54/Default.aspx

OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

UW Extension Publications	http://learningstore.uwex.edu
UW Soybean Agronomy	http://soybean.uwex.edu/
UW Corn Agronomy	http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/
UW Forage Agronomy	http://www.uwex.edu/ces/forage
UW Integrated Pest and Crop Mgt.	http://ipcm.wisc.edu/
UW Weed Science	http://ipcm.wisc.edu/uw_weeds/
UW Soil Science	http://www.soils.wisc.edu/extension/publications/