Student crop judging team shines, Flanagan wins top society honors

At the 2025 CANVAS Conference of the Tri-Societies in November, a team of undergraduate Agricultural Science majors revitalized Cornell’s Crop Judging and Quiz Bowl team, while undergraduate researcher Sarah Flanagan earned the ACS Academic Undergraduate Scholarship.

The conference — a joint meeting of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) — brings those field scientists from across the country, including long-standing Cornell delegations. 

For undergraduates Jacob Czarnecki ‘26, Sky Xu ‘26, Zora de Rham ‘27 and Aiden Martin ‘27, this year’s meeting offered a chance to put classroom knowledge to the test alongside nearly 30 universities – reestablishing the team after many years. 

The effort to restart Cornell’s crop judging team began after Czarnecki and Xu attended the conference in San Antonio last year. Upon returning, they approached horticulture faculty member Frank Rossi, who agreed to coach and instruct the team. 

“I joined the team because my favorite part of the field crops course at Cornell was plant ID,” said team member de Rham. Since high school, she has also enjoyed similar projects, once memorizing 50 native species of the Northeast.

The contest included crop and weed identification and agronomic math problems. Once a week, the team would gather for a simulation of the crops contest itself, de Rham explained.

Faculty, labs and students of all degrees rely on the Tri-Societies for collaboration, new ideas and professional community. Next year, the team hopes to bring more students to the competition. “We're trying to recruit people from the plant physiology, field crops and weeds classes that might relate to what we need to know,” said de Rham.

Sarah Flanagan, agricultural science ’26, works as an undergraduate researcher in Quirine Kettering's Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP), completing her senior thesis. At CANVAS 2025, she was awarded the 2025 Academic Undergraduate Scholarship Award — just one of two students to receive such an award.

Her work in nutrient management is focused on manure application and soil health indicators. The study explores below-ground biodiversity via soil health assessments, by conducting soil DNA extractions and sampling corn fields across New York.

The scholarship is intended for students pursuing a career in agronomy, crop or soil science. “After Cornell, I am planning to pursue a PhD in plant biology,” she said. “I am specifically interested in studying plant-soil interactions that regulate nutrient absorption and improving the nutritional value of crops.”

Her work has also extended to the Mazourek Vegetable Breeding Lab. The most valuable part of her work, she said, is working on projects that go directly back to the farmer, “whether examining the value of manure on soil health or assisting with various breeding trials.”

Working in the lab is the highlight of Flanagan’s week, she said. She’s grateful to her lab mates for helping make the space feel like a second home.

Photos below: Flanagan with  scholarship certificate she received in at CANVAS conference in Salt Lake City, Utah (left). Flannagan with research poster (right).