Scouting out their future paths

In the space of just over four hours, the next generation of agricultural producers got a thorough grounding in the future fields available to them at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center.

The 2024 Junior Crop Scout School was held Tuesday morning and afternoon, June 25, at the center three miles north of Carrington, and is sponsored by the North Dakota Soybean and North Dakota Corn Utilization councils.

The school, which showcases different aspects of agronomy-based careers, is coordinated through the efforts of Barnes County Extension Agent Alicia Harstad, and features instruction and hands-on workshops conducted by county agents from around the region.

Harstad says that the Crop Scout School came about when Foster County Extension Agent Jeff Gale presented a list of learning objectives to help jumpstart the idea of the program.

“The first year of Junior Crop Scout School was in 2021 in a plot behind Jamestown High School,” she said. “I was working as the Stutsman County Extension Agent at the time, and the high school wanted to see the plot get used for hands-on workshops, so it seemed like a great opportunity to start it.”

That initial year, 17 kids attended. In 2022, with Harstad taking the Barnes County position, the school was moved to NDSU’s Dazey plot. Rainy weather marred that year’s event, with enrollment down to 10.

Last year, the program was held at NDSU CREC for the first time, once again with 10 kids. This year was the Junior Crop Scout School’s best turnout yet, with 18 kids enrolling.

“After last year, we realized the CREC is the best fit for the Junior Crop Scout School because of the various plots we are able to use for teaching, the weed arboretum for the identification exercise, and the main building can serve as a rainy-day backup location,” said Harstad.

In the first activity of the day, Griggs County Extension Agent Jeff Stachler gave attendees a slideshow on different types of weeds, and how to identify them through their plant structures.

After classroom work, Stachler, the students and the other county agents and Extension Center professionals visited the arboretum on the south side of the center building’s campus.

The arboretum has been maintained since around 1993 by Greg Endres, CREC’s past cropping systems specialist, now officially retired.

Endres said, with a laugh, that many of the weeds meticulously curated at the arboretum are older than the kids studying them.

“You’d think it’s easy to grow weeds,” said Endres, but he maintains it’s more difficult than it would look at first glance.

The invasive plants are separated by row, and range from the seemingly benign dandelions and varied species of grasses to the noxious Palmer amaranth, which was accidentally introduced to the state and has become a headache for North Dakota farmers due to their resistance to many herbicides.

Gale has long had a deep appreciation for Endres’s work with weed research, and imparting that knowledge to the next generation will be beneficial.

“Greg works hard to share his knowledge with people of all ages and experience levels, whether they are young individuals, farmers, Extension agents, or crop scouts,” said Gale. “Maintaining the arboretum requires significant effort, but it is far more effective than using photographs or dry specimens.”

From there, the students hopped onto the CREC green and gold trailer to the experimental plots west of campus, and learned more aspects of successful farming and crop stewardship from the additional county agents on hand.

Among those subjects discussed were corn, soybean and wheat development, conducting stand counts, and identification of basic soil components.

After lunch, individuals and business owners within the agronomy field were on hand to answer attendees’ questions and talk about their areas of expertise.

“As the speakers shared their experience, they emphasized the value of creativity, self-education, gaining diverse experience while young, admitting when you don’t know something, and giving your best effort once you decide upon a career path,” said Gale.

Gale sees the Junior Crop Scout School as a valuable tool to give future farmers a leg up on what to expect when they tend to their own crops.

“[It] has two main objectives,” he said. “First, we wanted to help high school students gain a better understanding of a crop scout’s work. Second, to expand their awareness of different career opportunities in agronomy.”

In her time with the school, Harstad has gotten positive feedback from participants, and she hopes the snippets of knowledge will be retained for future memory bank purposes.

“They really seem to like how hands-on the school is,” she said. “One of our participants from the 2021 session became an IPM scout for NDSU last year, and told me she references the Junior Crop Scout School material often.”

That same student, she added, is currently pursuing an agronomy degree, as is another student currently serving as a summer crop scout.

“It’s very encouraging to see kids continuing to pursue their interest in agronomy on a professional level,” she said.

With time, Harstad sees the school possibly getting bigger in scope, and she is grateful for the NDSU CREC for providing their facilities to host it.

“I think, as we continue to build and improve the Junior Crop Scout School, we will see more interest,” she concluded. “We felt this year the program turned out to be the best yet.”

Gale says there has been interest among agents in other parts of the state to hold crop scout schools in their area.

“Each event is a little different, depending on who organizes it,” he said.

In other upcoming youth ag events, on Wednesday, July 31, NDSU CREC will be hosting a Junior Beef Production Workshop.

“The aim of the day-long event is to give high school students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with cattle and at the same time, learn more about career opportunities in the beef industry,” said Gale.