2023 TAPS Competitions to Culminate with Awards Banquet

Field of sorghum — Participants in the 2023 TAPS Competition tackled some atypical challenges during this year's contest, from hail damage in corn plots to irrigation issues in sorghum. Contestants' strategies to overcome these and other production issues throughout the growing season will be shared during the awards banquet on Jan. 13 in Kearney.

December 12, 2023

Krystle Rhoades - TAPS Program Coordinator

For the first time in the seven-year history of the Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program, many of the competitors had to calculate hail and wind damage into the management decisions while still striving for efficiency and profitability. The seventh annual awards banquet will showcase how participants managed their plots and compared to others in the competitions.

The 2023 farm management competitions culmination event will be held Saturday, Jan. 13 at the Younes Conference Center South in Kearney, Nebraska. The event will start with a social hour at 5 p.m. CST, followed by dinner, and the awards presentation.

With peer-to-peer interaction as a continued goal of the program, attendees will have the opportunity to converse with competitors, industry leaders, university staff, and TAPS organizers during the social hour.

Following dinner, TAPS organizers will discuss the findings from this year’s competitions, present data derived from teams’ decisions and finally, honor the award recipients for each contest.

The awards for greatest grain yield, highest input use efficiency, and the greatest honor of most profitable team will be announced for each competition. The 2023 contest season included the seventh annual sprinkler corn, the sixth annual sorghum, the fifth annual subsurface drip irrigation corn and the inaugural popcorn competitions facilitated at the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center (WCREEC) in North Platte, Nebraska.

The TAPS Advocate Award will also be presented to a person, group, or business, who advocated for the TAPS program, either behind the scenes or publicly. The evening will end with door prizes for those in attendance and the grand prize giveaway for a 2023 TAPS participant.

For those traveling to attend the event, a block of rooms has been reserved at the Comfort Inn. Please reference TAPS to receive the discounted rate when calling to make your reservation.

If you would like to attend the TAPS Awards Banquet, please register to attend by completing the online registration. We do ask that interested people register by Wednesday, Jan. 3 for planning purposes.