Heartland FFA Land judging team received 26th place in the nation and were the top ranked Nebraska team. Altogether they competed against 389 individuals with Alex Goertzen- 38th, Tyler Lewis- 98th, Mason Hiebner-157th, Carson Ott- 184th
Heartland FFA competes in land judging yearly, this is meant to help FFA members and agricultural students understand the difference in soils and why they respond differently, as well as how soils affect the growth of crops.
Mason Hiebner, Senior at Heartland Community Schools grew up on his family farm so naturally he grew a love for agriculture.
“I have lived on a farm my whole life and thought that FFA would give me the best opportunity to learn more of what interests me.”
Mason has been involved in FFA his whole high school career and has participated in land judging those four years as well.
“We have been able to make it to state my freshman and sophomore year, junior year a team qualified for nationals but because of Covid they couldn’t go, thankfully we had the opportunity to go again this year.”
Land Judging is something that is important for FFA students, especially if they’re going to be pursuing a career in agriculture, land judging also helps students develop an appreciation for different soils.
“The purpose of land judging is to test the field that you’re judging and classify it whether it’s rangeland or crop land. This shows us what should be planted on the field to get its peak performance.”
As you can tell Mason enjoys land judging and is really proud of the places they set in the competition this year.
“My favorite part of land judging is the people that we get to hang out with. There are people from around the country that we’re able to talk and play games with, which is always a fun time.”
Congratulations to the Heartland FFA judging team!
