Murray, Ky. — Students from the Hutson School of Agriculture at Murray State University repeated as national winners in the agribusiness contest at the 2018 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Student Judging Conference held April 18–21 in Norfolk, Nebraska.
Students in the University’s Agribusiness Club and Agronomy Club participated in four contests at the conference: agribusiness, crops, precision agriculture and the knowledge bowl. Murray State students placed as the top team in the four-year division in the agribusiness competition and third in the knowledge bowl. This is the second year in a row that Murray State has won the agribusiness contest. Individual students also placed well with Anthony (George) Bittel and Kristen Gregson, respectively, placing second and third as individuals in the agribusiness contest.
Murray State students from the Agronomy Club included two from Dresden: Kaleb Houston, who is President of the Agronomy Club, and Dalton Cashon. That team also competed in the crops and precision agriculture contests. The crops contest included many elements that students preparing to be certified crop advisors would be examined over, including a written agronomic exam, math and lab practicals and live plant identification. Agronomy students participating in the crops contest consisted of agronomy students Kaleb Houston (Dresden, Tennessee), Landon Williams, Alex Fichter (Newburgh, Indiana), Joel Reddick, Bradley James (Sturgis, Kentucky), Anna Arthur (Cynthiana, Kentucky) and Riley Mabe (Henderson County, Kentucky). The precision agriculture contest included a general knowledge exam, component identification of 62 different pieces from agricultural machinery and mathematical analysis of problems related to precision agriculture. Students competing in this contest included Denae Cato (Advance, Missouri), Bree Cox (Shawneetown, Illinois), Dalton Cashon (Dresden, Tennessee), Morgan McGuire (Newburgh, Indiana) and Rob Dawson (Henderson, Kentucky). The Murray State Agronomy Club is advised by Dr. David Ferguson, professor of agronomy.
Houston said, “I really believe that NACTA has made a successful impact on the future of my crop advising career. It was very practical, and I will be able to use what I have learned from the contest in the near future. I highly recommend that if anyone has the opportunity to be involved with NACTA, please do so.”
The agribusiness contest consisted of two parts: a written exam and a case study of a Nebraska agricultural production operation that required strategic analysis and a recommendation presented to judges. The contest was intended to evaluate competitors’ grasp of concepts, such as agribusiness management, agricultural economics, agricultural policy and law, agricultural finance and commodity marketing. The team placed second in the case study portion but took top team honors for the contest overall. Members of the agribusiness team included agribusiness seniors George Bittel (Owensboro, Kentucky), Kristen Gregson (Waterloo, Illinois) and Noah Ferguson (Clinton, Kentucky) in addition to agribusiness junior Jonathan Royster (Henderson County, Kentucky). The team was coached by Dr. Michelle Santiago, professor of agribusiness economics at Murray State, with agribusiness senior Benjamin Hornback (Slaughters, Kentucky) as the assistant coach.
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