UWRF team wins national forage bowl again

Posted at 4:20 p.m. on January 16, 2020

The Brillion News

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Forage Bowl Team from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls took first place in the National Forage Bowl competition held at the Annual Conference of the American Forage and Grassland Council in Greenville, S.C. This is the second year in a row the team has earned the title.

The competition is an undergraduate team event with a format similar to the game show Jeopardy. Categories cover all aspects of forage production and management. There is also a live forage plant ID contest as part of the competition.

Two UWRF teams participated in the competition this year. The winning team included Kyle Hilger of Bloomer; Anthony Neitzke of Egg Harbor; Leanna Schneider of Foley, Minn.; and Mark Kortbein of Tomah. The second team included Molly McIlquham of Chippewa Falls; Sara Behling of Cumberland; Sarah Anderson of Antigo; Kolby Beehler of Foley, Minn.; and Kira Jacobson of Cannon Falls, Minn.

The UW-River Falls Forage Bowl National Champion Team with Team Coach and Associate Professor Yoana Newman. Front row, L to R: Kyle Hilger, Leanna Schneider, Newman. Back row, L to R: Mark Kortbein, Anthony Neitzke.

The UW-River Falls team played the final against Kansas State University. In total, six schools participated in the competition, including Purdue University, Auburn University, University of Mount Olive, University of Kentucky, Kansas State University and UW-River Falls.

The UWRF team is coached by Yoana Newman, associate professor of crop science and Wisconsin Extension Forage Specialist. Newman has a USDA NIFA (National Institute on Food and Agriculture) grant that helped support the team travel to the competition. The grant has also supported new equipment for the classroom and several undergraduate field research projects.