The Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program will begin its eighth year by hosting its annual Kickoff Event. The evening will follow the similar “Learn, Launch, Interact” theme as previous years. Attendees will learn about John Deere's See and Spray technology, as well as studies at the Bayer Water Utilization Learning Center, launching the upcoming farm management competitions, and engaging with partners, sponsors, other participants and facilitators.
The 2024 Kickoff Event will begin at 5 p.m. CST Thursday, March 21, in Gothenburg, Nebraska.
The event will be held at the Gothenburg Water Utilization Learning Center just south of Gothenburg's I-80 interchange. John Deere will be on site with their See and Spray technology for a demonstration of their innovative smart spray product that allows growers to target weeds, rather than do a broadcast spray treatment. Bayer Crop Science will also present on the studies that are being facilitated onsite to further advance sustainability, efficiency and profitability.
Following these learning opportunities, a dinner meal will be served, and the event will conclude with the TAPS Launch, signaling the start of a brand-new TAPS competition season.
As with previous years, this event is when competitors are acquainted with the interactive website, acquire their competition credentials, learn to view and access their farm pages, and learn more about each of the management decisions they will be making, as well as any new rule changes.
People in attendance will also have the opportunity to interact with representatives from a number of companies. A wide variety of technology is offered to TAPS competitors to better inform production and marketing decisions, as they compete for most profitable, efficient, and highest yielding farm.
The 2024 TAPS program is set to include sprinkler corn and continuous corn competitions facilitated at the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center (WCREEC) in North Platte, Nebraska, as well as the sorghum competition, which will be facilitated at the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center in Grant, Nebraska. A new soybean competition is being added in 2024, facilitated at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) near Mead, Nebraska.
The TAPS team invites anyone interested in learning more about the TAPS program to attend the Kickoff Event on March 21. The event is completely free and open to the public, though we do ask that everyone wanting to attend register online by Wednesday, March 13 for planning purposes.
Changes to 2024 Competition
Due to some necessary upgrades to the subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system located at West Central Research, Extension and Education Center (WCREEC) in North Platte, the UNL-TAPS SDI corn competition will take a sabbatical in 2024. The intention is for the competition to return in 2025 once the upgrades are complete.
The UNL-TAPS line-up will have a new addition with a continuous corn competition located on the pivot at WCREEC, though. This competition will be planted into plots that have raised corn for the past four years. Participants will make the following management decisions: crop insurance, seeding rate, irrigation, nitrogen and marketing. The participants will also have access to lysimeter nitrate leaching data from the plots. Award categories will be similar with greatest grain yield, highest input use efficiency and most profitable. The TAPS team also hopes to provide nitrogen usage data and carbon intensity scores for this smaller competition.
