The sun was bright and the sky bright blue, but the wind never ceased the day FFA teams gathered at a farm in Iron Duff for the 2012 Area Land Judging competition. Tuscola team members ignored the cold as they demonstrated superior knowledge of soil, proving they knew their stuff when it came to determining soil texture, structure, consistence and tendency to erode — and that was just the top six inches.

Similar skill was required for the next layer below (the subsurface), not to mention expertise in drainage, water issues and recommendations for managing the soil and judging whether it would be suitable for urban uses such as landfills, basements, foundations or septic systems.

The teams rotated among four sites, each featuring a soil pit and different challenges in terms of slope, ...