North Carolina 4-H Presentation Guidelines
Crop Production and Utilization

Purpose/Objectives:

• Allow youth to explore the production and utilization of agronomic crops important to North Carolina.
• Give participants a greater understanding of the importance of agronomic crops to North Carolina's economy.
• Provide youth the opportunity to learn about new technologies and developments in crop production and utilization.
• Develop leadership abilities and build oral and visual communication skills through telling others what was learned about producing and using agronomic crops.

Eligibility:

Individuals or a team of 2 individuals may compete.

• 9-10 - 4-H'er must be 9 years old prior to January 1 of the current year and not have reached their eleventh burthday before January 1 of the current year.
  
  
• 11-13 - 4-H'er must be eleven years old prior to January 1 of the current year and not have reached their fourteenth birthday before January 1 of the current year.
  
  
• 14-18 - 4-H'er must be fourteen years of age prior to January 1 of the current year, and not have reached their nineteenth birthday before January 1 of the current year.

Presentation Ideas:

Any topic dealing with the production or utilization of agronomic crops is appropriate. Use the following list of ideas to assist you. However, this list is not exhaustive and participants are encouraged to come up with their own ideas. The more creative the topic, the better.

• Integrated pest management
• Rotational grazing systems
• Use of biotechnology in crop production
• Cotton utilization
• Peanut production
• Importance of crops to the animal industry
• No-till crop production
• Double cropping of wheat and soybeans
• Use of growth regulators in cotton and tobacco production
• Alternative crops for North Carolina
• Crop production and the environment
  

Rules/Regulations:

See NC 4-H Presentation Regulations.
NC 4-H Presentation Scoresheet 9-13...in PDF
NC 4-H Presentation Scoresheet 14-18...in PDF

Resources:

• Commodity promotion groups
• Crop production information guides developed by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and available from your county extension office
• Area growers and processors
• Local agricultural suppliers

Suggestions/Helpful Hints:

Pick a topic that is specific and can be covered in 8-12 minutes. Choosing more general topics often results in too much information covered at too fast of a speed. Keep the talk to the piont by conveying a few main messages. The presentation should have an introduction, where you tell the audience why the chosen topic is important to them. It also needs a conclusion, where you summarize into a few main points what was covered in the presentation. Speak directly to the audience and avoid reading from a script. Use an outline, posters, and demonstration materials to guide the audience through the presentation. Relax and have fun!

Crop production - Presentations concerning new technologies and/or production practices will be valued over presentations that are more general in coverage.

Crop utilization - Any discussion concerning the processing or marketing of agronomic commodities is appropriate.

Awards: Sponsored by NC Development Fund

• District Winners: 9-10, Certificate; 11-13, 14-18 $75 Scholarship for NC 4-H Congress. If a team, each member receives $37.50.
• State Winner: $50 Award for each winner.

Specialist:

Robert Patterson
Box 7620 NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695-7620
phone 919-515-4070
fax 919-515-7959
robert_patterson@ncsu.edu

Return to NC 4-H Presentation Guidelines

Last updated Apr 20, 2005

October 11, 2008