Only whispers and the crunching of the hard ground could be heard as 150 high school students descended on a harvested Warrick County cornfield off Old Boonville Highway belonging to Wagner's Seed Company for the area FFA Soil Judging Competition on Thursday. Though the students were divided into teams of four from their schools, each student had to complete his evaluation individually. Teams were given a total of 20 minutes at each of four different sample sites - three deemed agricultural and one representing a possible site for a home - to complete their analysis of the soil and site before turning in their answers for evaluation.

The students spent the first month of school meeting twice a week to familiarize themselves with the rules in preparation for the competition.