New Manual
Land Judging Manual
The manual developed for local land judging in Oklahoma in the 1940s was later adopted as the national manual in the 1950s. This manual has been adopted by some states as their land judging manual, while other states such as Washington, Hawaii, and Florida have each developed their own state-specific manuals. These manuals are all similar in approach in that land judgers are asked to observe soil and then make land use decisions. What is observed or considered and the decisions made are more specific to the states conditions. For example, depth to water table (drainage) is important in the sandy, wet state of Florida but not considered in the national contest. In Washington, they consider the lenght of the frost season when determining capability class. The first Florida land judging mimeograph (no copy available) identified this and all Florida manuals since then have been Florida-specific. To the right you will find copies of the current and old copies of the Florida manual.
Existing Manual: Land Judging in Florida
We currently recognize the 2009 EDIS document Land Judging in Florida as the official manual and rules for Florida Land Judging at the local and state contests. This document is currently out of print through UF IFAS. You can download a pdf copy on the righthand side of this page. We will revise this manual in summer 201X.
New Manual
I haven't found the time to write a new manual that meets my standards. It's 80% done. It's the same as the existing one, just cleaned up w/o some of the more confusing language. It will get done someday. It won't change the contest, so don't sweat it.
2018 Contest
The 2018 state contest will use the existing manual.
Training
At the 2017 contests, quite a number of folks approached me for a training. Since I'm no longer in an IFAS role that supports this type of outreach, offering this type of training is not going to be feasible. If it becomes possible in my current role, I will orgnaize something and announce it to you via FFA. I wish I had better news on this front.