UM Crookston home to national ag contest

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston’s agricultural judging team is a dynasty, a powerhouse. 

Its students have a long history of taking individual and team honors at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture’s annual national judging competition. They’ve won the national sweepstakes trophy eight times in the past 10 years.
But UMC students don’t have a crack at the contest next year. They’re hosting the 2016 NACTA Judging Conference, and students from the host school can’t compete.
“Well, this (being selected as host) gives the other schools a chance,” Emily Campbell, a UMC student who’s active in its judging team, says with a smile. Then, turning serious, she adds, “It really is a great honor to be host. We’re excited.”
UMC officials hope at least 700 students from 30 to 35 colleges will attend the 2016 event, set for April 14 to 16 on the UMC campus. The students will compete in 16 separate contests, including a first-ever agricultural sales competition, created specifically for this year’s event.
UMC began working three or four years ago to host the 2016 event, says Chuck Lariviere, an ag business instructor who’s organizing the ag sales event.
The college’s long involvement with NACTA, and its success in the annual judging competition, helped it land next year’s event, he says.
The host school is required to hold six judging contests and has the option to add more. Typically, 12 to 15 are held annually; they range from agribusiness management to horse judging, from landscape design to wildlife. The contests reflect NACTA’s mission “to advance the scholarship of teaching and learning in agricultural, environmental, natural and life sciences.”
‘Practical contest’
The 16 contests at the 2016 event in Crookston will include the ag sales competition that Lariviere says was partly inspired by FFA ag sales competitions, with which he’s been involved.
“I just felt it was a contest that was missing. I felt it was important to have it here, and this will be the first time it’s held at NACTA,” he says.
Ag sales are an increasingly important part of agriculture, and it offers a growing number of job opportunities for college graduates, Lariviere notes.
UMC students value the NACTA competition, in part, because doing well in it strengthens their resumes, says Campbell, an animal science major from Aitkin, Minn.
The ag sales contest, in particular, is “such a practical contest. It will really help you promote yourself,” she says.
The contest will consist of a general knowledge test and a simulated real-world sales session. Lariviere has recruited Crookston ag businesses, which teams will visit and where they’ll compete.
Each team will have three students. One will “sell” an ag implement or piece of farm equipment. One will sell an ag input, such as seed or fertilizer. And one will sell an ag service.
It’s uncertain whether the students will sell to employees of the businesses or to actual farmers from the Crookston area.
A month before the contest, each competitor will receive a customer profile and information about the product they’ll be selling.
Open to others
Christina Smith, an agronomy and ag business major from Staples, Minn., is helping to plan the ag sales contest. She says students from a wide range of majors - general business, for instance - can participate.
“It’s really a unique contest,” she says. “Most other contests are geared toward a specific major or specific student emphasis. But this will take students from different majors, even non ag students.”
By showcasing their skills to participating ag businesses, competitors can use the contest as “a stepping stone to what you want to do with your career,” she says.
Participating businesses will bring in sales staff from outside the Crookston area, too, increasing exposure for students, Lariviere says.
The ag sales contest will be held Nov. 15, the second day of the three-day competition.
The public might be interested in attending some of the 16 contests, Lariviere says.
For more information, visit www1.crk.umn.edu/events/nacta.