The “top guns” in agriculture aren’t hard to find. They will be in Kearney, Neb., on Jan. 13.

The top producers in the University of Nebraska’s Testing Ag Performance Solutions competitive farm management program will be celebrated for their fetes in this simulated field competition, making business management decisions for sprinkler-irrigated corn, subsurface drip corn, sorghum and sprinkler-irrigated popcorn.

In its seventh year, this innovative program hosts a number of interactive, real-life farm management competitions, testing a wide selection of technologies and strategies in a low-risk environment.

TAPS expanded for 2023, with a new competition taking place at Colorado State University, along with the addition of the sprinkler-irrigated popcorn division. The annual banquet, set this year for Younes Conference Center South in Kearney, will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by the dinner and awards presentations at 6 p.m.

Winners will be announced in categories including greatest yield, highest input use efficiency and most profitable. All participants in TAPS, partners and sponsors, along with those interested in participating in any way, are invited to attend. Registration information is available at taps.unl.edu.

Crop skills at HHD

Of the 440 people who participated in the UNL TAPS Crop Skills Challenge at Husker Harvest Days this past fall, winners were announced from Nebraska, Kansas and Indiana. Many of the participants were return competitors from 2022 HHD.

The challenges this year included an aerial imagery diagnostic matching; pest identification of a weed and insect; disease identification; yield and moisture estimation; and an irrigation scheduling challenge.

“We had one FFA chapter tell us that the only way to get approval from their school administration to attend HHD this year was because of the educational opportunities that Crop Skills Challenge provides,” says Krystle Rhoades, UNL TAPS coordinator. “There was also a young boy along with his dad who competed last year, and his dad said that his son had been waiting all year to come to try the challenges again this year. That duo took home one of the top prizes for the second year.”

To add to the learning experience of the event, participants were able to check their scores shortly after completing the challenges, and winners were announced on social media after each day of HHD.

“Following the conclusion of HHD, the UNL team created videos of the answers, which were released through TAPS social media,” Rhoades says. “The team felt that an educational opportunity was available to them in sharing the answers through those videos.”

Learn more at taps.unl.edu.