Nebraska State FFA Ag Issues

Contest Overview

Participants in the Agricultural Issues CDE research the pros and cons of an agricultural issue, and present their findings and theories to a panel of judges. The event helps students to develop critical thinking, problem solving and formal communication skills. There can be three to seven participants per team. The team is scored as a group and there will be no individual score.

Contest Schedule

Date: Friday, March 30, 2012
Report Time: 8 a.m. (see presentation schedule for exact report times)
Report Location: 3rd Floor, East Campus Union
Contest Location: 3rd Floor, East Campus Union
Contest Length: 45 minutes

Note: If there are any problems with the scheduled presentations times, please contact the contest superintendent, Richard Douglass at douglass.rich@gmail.com .

2012 Presentation Schedule

(order of presentations posted by random drawing)

Eligilbilty

A school CANNOT use the same or very similar topic a second time.

Past Ag Issues CDE Topics and Teams

    
Required Supplies for Students

• Tables, chairs, extension cords and a screen will be provided.
• All additional materials or equipment need to be supplied by the team.

Important dates to keep in mind are

• Monday, March 12, 2012: Four (4) portfolio’s must be postmarked by or on this date and sent to:
 

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
c/o Jennifer Greenlee
Ag Issues CDE
300 Ag Hall
Lincoln, NE 68583-0709

• Tuesday, March 13, 2012: The order of presentations by school will be posted by random drawing.

We will schedule presentation times earlier in the day (before 8 a.m.) if needed. Please let me know (douglass.rich@gmail.com) if your school may have other contest conflicts on the day of the contest.

For any changes or cancellations, please email Dr. Richard Douglass at douglass.rich@gmail.com or call day or night (402-798-7430) as soon as possible.

I look forward to overseeing the event and watching your wonderful presentations on contest day!! You’ve all helped educate us at UNL, as well as your local forums, on contemporary issues in the state of Nebraska. Keep up the good work!

State Rules and Format

1) Local forums should be completed prior to submission of the portfolios if possible. However, if you must schedule a forum after portfolios are submitted (but before the contest) be sure you either email the additional forum pages to the superintendent douglass.rich@gmail.com asap or bring four copies of the forum summary page(s) with you the day of the contest so that the judges can have access to those pages. There will be no point penalty in this case. It would also be advisable to send a note in each portfolio that one or more forums are scheduled and that you plan to submit that information by your contest time so that the judges can plan for the later submission.
 

2) On the national site is an attachment for “Helpful Hints”. I strongly recommend you read that section.
 

3) Also, be sure to review the instructional materials Dr. Jerry Peters has on his website listed at the end of Ch. 2 - Ag Issues section of the handbook.
 

4) If you are starting a team for the first time and would like to see an example of a winning portfolio, please email Dr. Douglass at douglass.rich@gmail.com requesting portfolio examples. That site is: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~peters/

National Rules and Format

Ag Issues National CDE Rules

National FFA CDE Handbook through Ch. 2: Ag Issues

The State Ag Issues CDE follows the National Rules as closely as possible.
 

1. The purpose of the agricultural issues forum is to present a current issue to a public audience;
therefore, professional ethics and standards are to be considered. Ignoring truthful information, falsifying needed information, using unreliable sources and plagiarism are violation examples which could result in disqualification.
 

2. A minimum of three and a maximum of seven students who are actively participating, orally
presenting and available to answer the judges’ questions. To be eligible for awards each student must take an active role in the presentation. This includes active participation in the presentation and making themselves available for questions from the judges.
 

3. Presentations may include official FFA dress, costumes, props, skits and other creative paraphernalia.
 

4. A minimum of three competent and unbiased judges will be provided. They will be instructed not to take sides on the issue(s). Professors and industry representatives are recommended. The superintendent of this CDE will adequately prepare the judges before the event competition.

Event Format

1. Equipment Provided- Equipment provided includes extension cords, tables and chairs and a front projection screen. Other equipment is allowed, but the presenting team must provide it.
 

2. Each team will conduct a presentation on the issue developed and presented at the local level.
 

3. The issue will come from one of the following eight agricultural issue topic areas as listed in the Focusing on Agricultural Issues instructional materials:
 

a. Environmental Issues
b. Agricultural Technology Issues
c. Animal Issues
d. Agricultural Career Issues
e. Economy and Trade Issues
f.  Agricultural Policy Issues
g. Food Safety Issues
h. Biotechnology
 

4. The same agricultural issue presentation and portfolio will not be used in subsequent years by the same chapter and/or advisor.
 

5. Research on the topic must be current and students must be involved in all the research of the topic and development of the portfolio.
 

6. The portfolio should include items described in a, b and c below, and will be limited to ten pages single sided or five pages double sided maximum not including cover page. The cover page will include the title "stated as a question" of the issue, the date of the state qualifying event, name, address and phone number of the chapter. A maximum of ten (10) points will be deducted for exceeding the maximum amount of pages and/or for not including the cover page containing required information. A penalty of 10% (2.5 points) will be assessed for documents received after the
postmark deadline. If document is not received seven days after postmark deadline, the team may be subject to disqualification.
 

a) A maximum of two pages of the portfolio will include a summary of the issue, answering the questions that are most relevant to your topic:

• List course(s) in which instruction occurred including the number of students involved in the instruction of the issue. (See Objective 6.)
• Why is this issue important now?
• What is the nature of the issue?
• Who is involved in the issue?
• How can the issue be defined?
• What is the historical background of the issue?
• What caused the issue?
• What are the risks?
• What are the benefits?
• Is there strong disagreement on the issue?

b) A bibliography of all resources and references cited which may include personal interviews and any other supporting material.
 

c) Provide documentation that local forum(s) occurred prior to state qualifying event such as:

• Letters from organizations
• News articles
• Photos showing attendance at forums

d) Please state when, where and to whom the forum(s) were presented and indicate how many community members were in attendance at each of the forum(s).
 

e) A chapter must have a minimum of five high quality public forums prior to their state qualifying event in order to receive the maximum of 15 points.

• Multiple organizations attending the same forum will count as one forum. If more than one forum is held on the same day, the starting time of each forum must be independently documented.
• Portfolio judges may take into consideration the quality and quantity of presentations made to audiences outside of the school. No points will be awarded for school presentations to teachers and students. In addition, no points shall be awarded for forums presented as any part of a local or state FFA competition.
• High quality forums are those presentations made to community groups that would have an interest in the issue. Suggested procedures for setting up these presentations and examples of community groups have been provided in the Agricultural Issues Forum Presenter’s Guide. High quality forums can also be with smaller numbers of individuals who hold elected, appointed or some other official position that will be making decisions on the issue.
• Examples of low quality forums would be dropping in at a local business and giving your presentation to the workers or going to the home of one of the parents to make a presentation. Low quality forums will receive zero or minimal points.

7. Time Limits: Thirty minutes will be allowed for set up. The presentation will be a maximum of 15 minutes in length. The presenters will receive a signal at 10 minutes and 14 minutes. At 15 minutes the timekeeper will announce that time is up, and the presentation will end. A maximum of seven (7) minutes for questions and answers will be allotted. Questions and answers will terminate at the end of seven (7) minutes. Thirty minutes will be allowed for take down and the next team setup.
 

8. The presentations will be designed to be viewed by the judges. The audience at-large will not be of concern to the presenters.
 

9. The judges may ask questions of all individuals of the presenting team. Each individual is encouraged to respond to at least one question from the judges.

Scoring

1. Team Presentation
A. Introduction, Pro, Con and Summary of Pro and Con (20 points each, 80 points total). There will be a 5-point deduction from the scorecard of any team that draws a conclusion supporting a pro or con viewpoint during the formal presentation.
B. Overall presentation (participation of each member of the team, quality and power of the presentations, creativity, stage presence) ( 20 points)
C. Questions (25 points)

2. Portfolio: 10 single sided pages maximum or 5 double sided pages. (3 parts, 25 points total) Stapled not bound or in folder.
A. Summary of the Issue, 2 pages maximum (5 points).
B. Bibliography (5 points).
C. Documentation of local forums (15 points).

i. Please state when, (date and time) where, and to whom the forums were presented. If you indicate that more than one forum was held on the same date, independent documentation of the time of day the forums were held must be provided.

ii. Maximum of 10 points will be deducted for exceeding the maximum number of pages and/or not including cover page containing required information. Prior to the event, the portfolios will be judged and scored by the presentation judges using the portfolio scorecard. Presentation judges will be furnished with copies of the team portfolio, which they may use to formulate questions.

3. Judges’ ranking will be used to place teams.

4. Teams shall be ranked in numerical order on the basis of the final score to be determined by each judge without consultation. The judges’ ranking of each team then shall be added, and the winner will be that team whose total ranking is the lowest. Other placings will be determined in the same manner (low rank method of selection).

5. Proper grammar, correct spelling, and proper editing of text are important. The most current edition of The American Psychological Association (APA) style guide should be used for all research citations. Adherence to these editorial guidelines is expected to receive maximum points for the Portfolio score.

6. Ag Issues Score Card

Tiebreakers

Ties will be broken based on the greatest number of low ranks. Team’s low ranks will be counted
and the team with the greatest number of low ranks will be declared the winner. If a tie still
exists, then the event superintendent will rank the team’s response to questions. The team with the greatest number of low ranks from the response to question will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists then the team’s raw scores will be totaled. The team with the greatest total of raw points will be declared the winner.

Awards

Awards will be presented at an awards ceremony.

References

This list of references is not intended to be inclusive. Other sources may be utilized and teachers
are encouraged to make use of the very best instructional materials available. The following list contains references that may prove helpful during event preparation.

• Updated Focusing on Agricultural Issues Instructional Materials located at: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~peters/
• Purchased through The Core Catalog, National FFA Organization.
• Agricultural Issues: Ground Water Safety Video, The Core Catalog, National FFA Organization
• Document entitled: “Helpful hints to give your students the best opportunity to do well in the Agricultural Issues Forum Career Development

Event at the State and National FFA Conventions” can be found on the Agricultural Issues Instructional Materials website listed above and the National FFA Website at the following link: National FFA Ag Issues Rules

Contest Superintendent Contact Information

Dr. Richard Douglass
(402) 798-7430
douglass.rich@gmail.com

updated 1/9/12