WAITSBURG – Waitsburg's FFA chapter nabbed a $5,000 first-place check and a trip to the World Fertilizer Conference in San Francisco, Calif. last year, their first time competing in the Nutrients For Life Foundations Helping Communities Grow contest.

The chapter culminated this year's contest submission with a Community Night at Waitsburg High School on April 20, where students shared what they had learned and done for this year's project.

WHS Ag Science and Plant Science students welcomed community members and agricultural company representatives to the Ag Science room where they made their presentations. Judges from FFA Advisor Nicole Abel's Ag Advisory Board, made up of local agriculture experts Deb Fortner, Andy Winnett and Larry Conover, served as judges and questioned students on their presentations.

FFA President Mikala DeRuwe spearheaded this year's project, which involved working with ag companies, organizing the projects and filling out applications.

"The student's projects were the main focus this year. I wanted to get as many students involved as possible while trying to teach high school students, who we felt would retain the most about the subject – the importance of fertilizer," DeRuwe said.

The Helping Communities Grow outreach program challenges FFA chapters to learn about the role fertilizer plays in the food supply and then to go beyond the classroom and educate their community on fertilizer and soil nutrients. To accomplish that goal, ag experts from local companies taught students who then completed a project or gave a presentation on what they learned.

Leslie Hammer, from the McGregor Company, taught the freshman Ag Science class about the nitrogen cycle. Students then created a game – complete with game board, trivia cards, game pieces and directions – that shows how the nitrogen cycle works. The goal of the game is to make the tour through the nitrogen cycle and the game pieces (lightning bolt, tractor, chicken, and cow) all relate to the cycle in some way.

David White, Vaughn Goodman and Dave Uberagua, from Wilbur-Ellis, taught the sophomore Plant Science class about the 4R's of fertilizer stewardship: right source, right rate, right time, and right place. Students used that knowledge to create the winning presentation of the evening.

Using satellite maps, supplied by Wilbur-Ellis, that showed field topography and the amount of chlorophyll in different areas, they explained how farmers can fertilize efficiently and cost effectively with the use of GPS systems like Trimble.

"I feel very confident with this project. Last year we had a big win, which is a lot to live up to, but I think we met and exceeded our goals," DeRuwe said. "Honestly, I can't imagine it going any better than it did this year and I hope next year they come up with something even better!" she added.

Dena Wood

The freshman Plant Science class created a game to help explain the nitrogen cycle.

FFA members will learn how their project fared in comparison to other Washington competitors at the State FFA Convention, May 14-17 at Washington State University in Pullman.