The Superior Express -

Earlier this semester, Seth Going, Superior Public School FFA sponsor, and Cayce Barry, a junior, presented a report to the Superior Board of Education on the Superior FFA Land Lab that is being developed.

Seventeen acres, directly north of the school, is one of only 10 land labs in Nebraska. The land was purchased by the school in recent years from Scully Estates for development.

“Many schools have test plots,” Going said, “But only a few have land labs.”

The land was divided into 10 plots last spring and planted to corn. Several classes used the lab for hands on learning experiences:

• The introduction to agriculture class composed of seventh and eighth grade students studied planting populations, soil categories, soil permeability, root development and types of roots.

• The agronomy class completed soil samples using grids and GPS to establish satellite coordinators for field data. They also made fertilizer recommendations based on the soil samples taken a year ago in April and completed field deficiency data under the direction of Brenda Corman, agronomy instructor. Deficiencies analyzed corn smut and insect damage.

• The farm business management class worked on the financial data. Fertilizer cost $2,227.99; pesticide application cost $1,441 and fuel usage on combines and tractors were based on date from the manufacturers.

They also looked at real estate tax, insurance and cost of land.

• The animal science class figured forage value based on the number of pounds of roughage per square foot, using feed tables to find protein value. They determined three cow-calf pairs could graze there for 30 days.

Going hopes to use a portion of the land lab for either a pumpkin patch or a melon patch with the goal of having up to six additional FFA members use it for their Supervised Educations Experience (SAE).

“It is unfortunate,” Going said, “But to earn any of the sought after awards in FFA, the organization requires their SAE be ag related.”

Cayce Barry, a junior, was the lead crop scout and her FFA SAE is centered around the field crop planted on the land lab. A big part of her task and record keeping during the growing season was to track corn borer moths. Traps were set which she monitored weekly. She worked closely with Brenda Corman, the agronomy instructor.

Students were involved in setting up variety signs, counting plant stands by foot and drone, checking for deficiencies, checking for moth eggs and keeping track of the data on an iPad.

Last fall, 3,060.89 bushels of corn were harvested from the land lab (175.86 bushels per acre). It was sold for $7.29 per bushel.

The school paid $3,668 for inputs. Income was $22,110 resulting in a net income of $18,442.

Matt Sullivan, board president, responded, “Everyone would farm with that profit margin.”

Going was quick to point out donor contributions and thank them: Tall Pine Ag, Steve Bargen, Phil Simonsen, Matt Carpenter, Jason Ray and Meyer Aerial Spraying.

Besides their expertise, their donations included field work, spraying, harvesting, drone scouting, fungicide, seed and equipment repair.

Next year, Going expects students will rogue. “Pigweeds really took off toward the end of the growing season,” he said.

He expects a crop rotation will be developed to include soybeans and perhaps alfalfa.

He hopes money from the project can be used to pour a concrete floor in the green house which he expects to cost between $15,000 and $16,000. The proceeds will also be used to purchase FFA jackets for students who cannot afford them and to establish a base to include animal facilities for future SAE projects.

One of the project surprises was a significant yield bump in three of the 10 test plots. (Production ranged from 145 bushels per acre to 201 bushels per acre within the 10 plots.)

“Previous yield data based on seed genetics did not account for the increase,” he said.

They did some core drilling and discovered a significant leak from the canal uphill from the land lab had sub-irrigated a portion of the field.

“It is not something we have any control over,” Going said.

Data from the land lab was shared with Pioneer Seed, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Fillmore Central, Oakland Craig and Alliance public schools.