Each TAPS team is allocated a randomized plot located in blocks A, B and C.
techniques, and make necessary adjustments to their operations. As teams compete and interact, the results are production and management solutions to the tough questions corn and sorghum producers face.
The starting line
The UNL Research and Extension personnel and facilities provide the common ground for these contests. As it concludes its second year of competition, TAPS has been more successful than expected. The 2018 competition included 28 teams from Kansas and Nebraska, including producers, Natural Resource Districts, Groundwater Management Districts and other nonproducer groups. The program currently has both a corn and sorghum contest. By next year, the plan is to expand the program to also include wheat.
Each team is allocated a small plot located at the West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte, Nebraska. The plots amount to less than half an acre per team and are maintained and overseen by UNL. Each of the team plots are amplified to represent either a 3,000-acre corn farm or 1,000-acre sorghum farm.
Competitors (individuals and/or groups) make numerous input and management choices in six primary areas of production and management by way of a web- based platform: 1) irrigation quantity and scheduling, 2) plant population;
3) hybrid selection; 4) grain marketing; 5) crop insurance selection; and 6) nitrogen fertilizer timing, quantity and placement. Unlike a simple yield contest, the management objectives of the contest relate directly to the management and relationship of resource allocation to profitability and sustainability.
Competitor’s choices are made in an environment where real-time information regarding field conditions are available using new and emerging technologies. These technologies include varying types of soil water measurements and crop condition.
During the first two years, participants were given the option of choosing and managing sprinkler irrigation. To expand the competition, a subsurface drip irrigation system was recently installed. In 2019, both types of irrigation will be available for use by participants.
As teams compete and interact, the results are production and management solutions to the tough questions corn and sorghum producers face.
Available Prizes
Cash prizes ranging from $500 to $2,000 are awarded for the following in each contest:
1 2
most profitable farm
greatest efficiency of both water and nitrogen
3
most productive team/farm with the highest yield
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