2020
Student Introduction to CCA Using Classroom and Field Education
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Contributor/Checkoff:
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
DiseaseField management Pest
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Gerald Toland, Southwest Minnesota State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
10-15-48-20233
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council
$5,000
Institution Funded:
Southwest Minnesota State University
$5,000
Brief Project Summary:

Proposal Synopsis: SMSU’s ACHM Department has several major areas of study including Agribusiness Management, Agronomy and Agricultural Education. SMSU presently has a 30-acre multi-crop site close to campus for hands-on student-learning in the field. SMSU’s ACHM Department made contact with these ASA personnel at Madison, WI: Luther Smith, Chris Boomsma, Katie Miles and Eric Welsh. We discussed implementation of CCA training/education for students at SMSU. This training and education will help prepare students to take CCA exams at SMSU in preparation for postgraduate employment. Students will also be encouraged to participate in the ASA’s GO and Greenfield Scholars Programs. Our goal...

Unique Keywords:
#agronomy
Information And Results
Final Project Results

Updated May 24, 2022:

View uploaded report Word file

Executive Summary

The primary goal of SMSU’s 2020-2021 MSR&PC project is to create and promote an educational program that helps our students prepare to take and pass the Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) examination.
The major components of our project’s CCA educational programming effort are:

• SMSU faculty contacted representatives of the Minnesota Certified Crop Advisors (MCCA) organization and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) to obtain resources and official materials that we could share with our SMSU students to increase awareness of the importance and relevance of CCA certification.
• In February 2020, before Pandemic restrictions were implemented, SMSU invited Dr. David Kee to visit directly with SMSU students, and help them realize the value of pursuing CCA Certification.
• In the beginning of Fall Semester 2020 at SMSU, SMSU Agriculture Faculty and the SMSU Ag Club used both class and meeting times to make students aware that CCA educational workshops would be offered. These workshops were scheduled to occur in both Fall and Spring to help interested students prepare to take the CCA Exams.
• SMSU students participated in the faculty-taught workshops in late November 2020, and also in early April 2021, just before the exams were administered. Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, SMSU offered the workshops both in-person (socially distanced and masked) and on Zoom.
• The ASA assisted us by scheduling a test-time set-aside especially for students in April 2021.
• As we explained when SMSU filed for a No-Cost Extension (NCE) of our 2020-2021 project, a number or the activities originally planned for our project could not happen. We submitted a re-budget proposal, and it was approved through the NCE process. One aspect of SMSU’s re-budgeting process was to increase the subsidy from the grant to help students with the cost of the CCA examination fees. SMSU students who registered for the both the International and Minnesota CCA exams paid $25 each to sign-up for the exams, and the MSR&PC grant covered the remainder of the students’ exam fees.
• Seven SMSU students registered to take both CCA exams, and the ASA proctored these tests remotely because of the Pandemic during the week of April 14-20, 2021. Only six SMSU students actually took the exams. One student successfully passed the Minnesota CCA exam. No other SMSU student passed either the MN or the International CCA Exam during the April 2021 testing period.
• The SMSU students who took the exams were disappointed, but not defeated. They are ready to try again in either Fall Semester 2021 or Spring Semester 2022.

• SMSU faculty will research new teaching and learning strategies in an effort to help students have a higher success rate when they take the CCA exams again in the upcoming academic year.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.