CDE Handbook - Florida FFA Association

Land Judging CDE
Land Judging CDE
Purpose
The Land Judging Career Development Event is designed to
stimulate learning activities related to soils and their best use.
Eligibility
The participant must be an active member of a chartered
Florida FFA Chapter and enrolled in grades 9, 10, 11 or 12. A
participant must be 14 years old, or scheduled to turn 14, before
the date of the current year’s National Land Judging Contest.
Each chapter may enter one team of four individuals. Only the
top three scores will be calculated for the team total.
Event Procedures
1. In order to participate in the State Land Judging Contest,
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a team must have first participated in a Soil and Water
Conservation District CDE and be declared the county
winner. The site determination of the state event will be
made by the State Land Judging Committee.
2. A team may be composed of four members with the top
three scores representing the chapter score.
3. The team placing highest in the State Land Judging CDE
will represent Florida in the National Land Judging CDE in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
4. Bubble vials, levels, notes and bulletins will not be allowed
in the contest.
5. It is permissible to carry a small bottle of water to moisten
soil for making a determination of surface texture, and a
clipboard may also be used.
6. Decision of the judges will be final.
7. Contestants must provide their own pens, pencils, erasers
and other necessary items for CDE competition.
8. FFA members must be in official dress, appropriate to the
contest, and will be scored accordingly.
Event Format
1. Each team member will be required to judge four fields
(pits). Each site will have an excavation to show soil
profile, samples of subsoil and topsoil, and stakes or flags
to indicate a 100-foot distance for estimating slopes.
Homesite evaluation will be one of the four sites.
2. Twenty minutes will be allowed to make the placings on
each field unless otherwise designated.
Scoring
Land Judging:
Florida FFA Career Development Event Handbook
Land Class Factors 33 points
Recommended Land Treatments
Homesite:
30 points
(varies with site)
Characteristics 16 points
Planned Uses and Interpretations 54 points
Tie Breakers
Ties will be broken using the following procedure, unless
otherwise noted by the CDE Coordinator. In breaking a tie for a
team the drop score will be used first, followed by team written
exam total, and then by team placing class total. Individual ties
will be broken by oral reasons first, followed by written exam,
and then by a single placing class (chosen by CDE Coordinator).
If any of these are absent from a CDE, (ie. oral reasons, written
exam, etc), then the next highest point practicum will be used.
Awards
Awards will be presented at an awards ceremony. Awards are
presented to teams as well as individuals based upon their
rankings. Awards are sponsored by a cooperating industry
sponsor(s) as a special project and/or by the general fund of the
Florida FFA Foundation.
References
This list of references is not intended to be inclu¬sive. Other
sources may be utilized and teachers are encouraged to make
use of the very best instructional materials available. The
following list contains references that may prove helpful during
event preparation.
• Land Judging and Homesite Evaluation in Florida.
Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of
Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
• Basic Principles of Soil Science. IFAS Publication.
• Our Soils and Their Management. Donahue, Follett and
Tulloch, The Interstate Printers and Publishers, Inc.,
Danville, Illinois 61832.
• Approved Practices in Soil Conservation. Bosworth
and Foster, The Interstate Printers and Publishers, Inc.,
Danville Illinois 61832.
• Land Judging Website: http://landjudging.ifas.ufl.edu/