Viking land judges best in the west

Garfield-Palouse FFA team placed first for the western region at the national land judging contest in Oklahoma City. For the past three years, Garfield-Palouse has won the opportunity to represent Washington at the national competition in Oklahoma City.

The team for this year consisted of Chad Redman, JB Lange, Tiona Shea, Missy Johnson and Heidi Jamison. More than 100 FFA and 4H teams from 37 states traveled to Oklahoma City to compete in at least one of the three contests including land, homesite and range judging.

Nationally, Garfield /Palouse placed 13th of 97 in land judging and 17th of 49 in homesite. In the Western Region, Gar-Pal earned first place in land judging and third in homesite.

The main sponsor of this contest was the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, along with other local and national sponsors.

Land and homesite evaluation are very similar contests, however. In land teams appraise soil and its characteristics to determine its best use for agriculture. In homesite they determine whether the land is suitable for a house.