Noah Rast of Escalon FFA won High Individual in the Vegetable Crop Judging contest at the annual California State FFA Finals competition earlier this month.

The purpose of the Vegetable Crop Judging Contest is to create interest and promote understanding in the vegetable crop industry by providing opportunities for recognition through the demonstration of skills and proficiencies. It is the intention of the contest to provide a venue for students to explore career opportunities, skills and proficiencies in the vegetable crop industry. The emphasis of this contest is to promote critical thinking, evaluation, oral and identification skills.

Students at State Finals competed in 20 other leadership and career development events throughout the day in categories including Agronomy, Dairy Cattle, Farm Business Management, Floriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Nursery Landscape, Marketing, Vegetable Crops, Vet Science, and Welding.

Events were evaluated by volunteers including Cal Poly faculty, staff and students, industry professionals, and community members.

The winners of each event were named at an awards ceremony hosted by the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Dean Andrew Thulin. Winners will represent California at the National FFA Convention in October in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The California FFA Association, founded in 1928, serves more than 82,000 California high school students and strives to make a difference in their lives by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through vocational education.