Many college teams from throughout the Southeast got down and dirty at the Southeastern Regional Soils Contest on Friday, Oct. 25. The UTM Agronomy Club and Soil Science students played host to teams from universities such as Auburn, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Murray State.

Teams arrived on Tuesday, Oct. 21, and practiced their judging skills in soil pits located on campus and around Weakley and Obion counties. Corey Giles, president of the Agronomy Club, stated that he and other members of the club were responsible for keeping the nine competition pits dry from rains as well as designing and selling shirts for the participants.

Dr. Paula Gale, professor of Soil Science, points out that the agronomy students' hosting of this event is more significant than some might know. "Soil judging first started competitively in Tennessee," Gale said.

Local Natural Resource Conservation Service (NCRS) employees were responsible for giving their professional judgments of the pits and developing reasoning for those judgments. The college that judged the soil pits most accurately according to the NRCS, earned the most points.

The University of Georgia proved to know their soil best as they took the win this year. Virginia Tech came in second.

If anyone is interested in joining the UTM Agronomy Club, they may contact Dr. Paula Gale or club president Corey Giles.