The Testing Ag Performance Solutions awards ceremony in January culminated the program’s fifth year of farm management competitions. Founded in 2017, TAPS is an innovative program developed by University of Nebraska research and Extension specialists and educators.

Rather than the typical teacher and student paradigm, the program facilitates a number of interactive real-life farm management competitions as an innovative way of connecting producers to industry professionals and offering a way of testing out new, advancing technologies through farm management competitions facilitated in North Platte at the West Central Research, Extension, and Education Center.  

The event was a night of interaction and celebration of the 2021 competitions, which included sorghum, subsurface drip irrigated corn, and sprinkler irrigated corn. The participants in each competition make their own input decisions for their plots on the same field as competitors. These decisions include crop insurance, hybrid and seeding rate, nitrogen timing and amount, irrigation timing and amount, and marketing of their crop.

Winners 

Awards are given in each competition for greatest grain yield, highest input use efficiency, and most profitable. These designations come with a cash prize, along with a plaque, oversized check and personalized TAPS apparel item.  

The sorghum contest, in its fourth year, included both a dryland and irrigated portion and 16 teams. Greatest Yield was won by Tom Carpenter of Bartley, Neb.; and the Highest Input Use Efficiency and Most Profitable awards were both won by Chad Dane of Clay Center, Neb.  

In the third year of the SDI corn competition, 16 teams competed. Lorn Dizmang of Dizmang Ag in Moorefield, Neb., tied with Matt Furlong and Bryant Knoerzer for the Greatest Yield award. Furlong and Knoerzer of Bertrand and Elwood, Neb., respectively, took home the Highest Input Use Efficiency accolade. The Rattlesnake Boys from Wood River, Neb., won the top award for Most Profitable. The Rattlesnake Boys team consisted of Kevin and Amy Harsch, Jay Johnson, and Jeremy Gewecke.  

The fifth year of the sprinkler corn competition had 32 teams participate. The Greatest Yield award was a tie between Luke Olson of McCook, Neb., and Joshua Becker and Steve Hunt from Beaver City, Neb. The Norton FFA team from Norton, Kan., led by instructor Caroline Howsden, earned the Highest Input Use Efficiency award. The “Waters R Us” team from Lincoln, Neb., won the top award for Most Profitable. The team was made up of Nebraska Department of Natural Resources employees Alexa Davis, Kent Zimmerman and Elizabeth Esseks.  

The last award presented was the Outstanding TAPS Advocate, which honors an organization, person or business that went above and beyond in supporting the TAPS program. This year, the award recipient was Curtis Scheele from Holdrege, Neb.  

The TAPS program would like to thank all the sponsors, supporters and participants for being a part of and making the program a success for the past five years. The 2022 TAPS competitions are already in planning.

Anyone interested in the program can email Krystle Rhoades, TAPS program manager, at [email protected]. The full 2021 TAPS competition report can be found online at taps.unl.edu/reports.  

Source: UNL-TAPS, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.