For the fifth consecutive year, Phoenix Rotary Equipment is sponsoring the Conservation Tillage Essay Contest and will award college scholarship grants totaling $2,500 to two students. Phoenix will award a $1,500 scholarship to the first-place winner and $1,000 to the second-place winner.F

“We’re happy to be able to help theses students,” says Russell Clark, spokesman for Phoenix Rotary. “This is a chance for the up-and-comers in our agricultural community to write about something they’re interested in and maybe have experienced first-hand. Even if they don’t receive one of the awards, they win by learning more about the worthiness of conservation tillage.”

The deadline for entries is Nov. 14. The winners will be announced during the 14th annual National No-Till Conference, Jan. 11 through 14, 2006, in St. Louis. The winners will be notified and do not need to attend the conference.

CONTEST RULES

The essay contest is open to high school seniors and college students, including those at 4-year and 2-year universities, community colleges and vocational/technical schools.

Essays must be 700 to 1,000 words long and must pertain to some aspect of conservation tillage. (For example: no-till, zero-till, direct seeding, mulch-till or ridge-till.)

Only one entry per student is allowed each year.

Entries must be original work and not previously published.

Entrants must permit their work to be published in future issues of No-Till Farmer and allow the contest sponsors to use their names and essays to promote the contest.

Judging will be based on demonstrated knowledge of no-till…