By Scout Nelson
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program marked another year of innovation in 2025, bringing new competitions, expanded partnerships, and continued growth in participant engagement. The program provides a hands-on environment where teams test management strategies in real cropping systems while exploring efficiency, profitability, and technology adoption.
These achievements will be recognized during the ninth annual UNL-TAPS Awards Banquet on January 31, 2026, at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney, Nebraska. The event will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards program at 6 p.m. The banquet offers an opportunity for competitors, faculty, industry partners and supporters to reconnect, share results and continue the peer learning central to the TAPS mission.
The 2025 competition lineup included long-running contests along with several new additions. Sprinkler irrigated corn competitions were held at the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center (WCREEC) in North Platte, including continuous corn entries. A new sprinkler-irrigated competition was introduced at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) near Mead.
The ENREEC corn division, sponsored by Tidal Grow, added a customized award structure that emphasizes sustainability, cost of production, input use efficiency, grain yield and carbon intensity.
The irrigated soybean contest continued for the second year at ENREEC, remaining one of the program’s most competitive categories. A major new addition was the first annual irrigated food-grade corn competition at the Bayer Water Utilization Learning Center near Gothenburg, Nebraska.
Supported by Bayer with assistance from Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, this contest introduced a value-chain perspective by allowing participants to manage food-grade corn under irrigated conditions.
For all competitions, teams were evaluated on profitability, input use efficiency and grain yield—three cornerstone measures that encourage balanced decision-making across economic and agronomic factors.
The banquet will also feature the annual TAPS Advocate Award, along with door prizes and a grand prize for a 2025 competitor. Attendees may reserve hotel rooms at a special rate and are asked to register online prior to the event.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-livingimages
Categories: Nebraska, Crops, Corn, Soybeans, Education