Iowa State fielded a graduate and undergraduate team for the North Central Weed Science Society (NCWSS) Weed Contest. This year’s contest was hosted by ABG Ag Services near Sheridan, Indiana on July 25, 2024. Mindy DeVries, agronomy and Quincy Law, horticulture, served as coaches.
The NCWSS Weed Contest tests students across four categories: weed identification, sprayer calibration, herbicide identification, and plant production problem solving + recommendation.
Iowa State participants included agronomy graduates Megan Blauwet and Courtney Harle; agronomy undergraduates Emma Davidson, Ephraim Van Zante, Abe Dieleman and Alex Coughlin; entomology graduate Wyatt Bailey; horticulture graduate Keyshell Cole Hodgson and horticulture undergraduate James Sprague.
The students gained valuable experience and had an excellent performance. The undergraduate team took third place, Courtney Harle won first place for the Graduate Individual Written Calibration, and Alex Coughlin won first place for Undergraduate Individual Weed Identification, Undergraduate Individual Herbicide Identification, and Overall Undergraduate Individual.
In addition to the Weed Contest and related networking events, students were provided the opportunity to tour Corteva Agriscience Headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. Byron Sleugh, an ISU Agronomy alumnus, was one of our tour guides. Thank you to the Department of Agronomy for supporting these enriching learning experiences.
