Lincoln, Neb. —The Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) awards ceremony culminated the program's fifth year of farm management competitions on Saturday, Jan. 15. The TAPS program was created by University of Nebraska educators and specialists, as an innovative way of connecting producers to industry professionals and offering a way of testing out new, advancing technologies through farm management competition facilitated in North Platte at 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 individual 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, lastly, marketing of their crop.
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. The award winners were as follows: Greatest Yield was won by Tom Carpenter of Bartley, Neb.; 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, sixteen teams competed. The award winners in the SDI competition included: 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; and the Rattlesnake Boys from Wood River, Neb. won the top award for Most Profitable. The Rattlesnake Boys team consisted of Kevin & Amy Harsch, Jay Johnson, and Jeremy Gewecke.
The fifth year of the sprinkler corn competition had thirty-two 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 UNL-TAPS program. This year, the award recipient was Curtis Scheele from Holdrege, Neb.
The full 2021 TAPS Competition Report can be found online at www.taps.unl.edu/reports.
Founded in 2017, the Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program 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. For more information visit taps.unl.edu.