TAPS Network

Another season is underway for UNL-TAPS. 🌱

This week, the UNL TAPS team completed planting for the Sprinkler Corn Competition in North Platte and the Sprinkler Corn and Soybean Competitions in Mead, Nebraska.

Now the work begins: producer-driven decisions, in-season management, field data collection, and applied research focused on irrigation, nitrogen management, profitability, and sustainability.

A big thank you to Victor, the UNL-TAPS team, and the research visiting scholars helping make these competitions possible each season. TAPS continues to be powered by collaboration between producers, researchers, students, and industry partners working together to improve agricultural decision-making.

📸 Photos shared by Victor, UNL Ph.D. student and TAPS research manager.

season is underway for UNL-TAPS. 🌱

Big thanks to Axis Seed | Red Barn Enterprises | Matt Long, for stepping up in a big way for the 2026 TAPS National Competition.

From providing seed to delivering a fully loaded Field Ready Bucket (snacks, wipes, gloves, paper towels—everything you didn’t know you needed at planting), they’re helping set the standard for what partnership looks like in TAPS.

Proud to have them with us—and even more excited to showcase that partnership on the national stage. 🌽💪

Today is Kansas Water Day, a statewide observance recognizing the importance of water resources that support agriculture, communities, and ecosystems.

Across the High Plains and beyond, water management is one of the most important decisions producers make each season.

Through the Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program, farmers work with researchers and industry partners to test irrigation strategies, compare management decisions, and evaluate real production outcomes.

By combining farmer experience with field data, TAPS helps producers better understand how to manage water resources efficiently while maintaining productivity.

Today’s WaterSmart Management event in Garden City will bring together perspectives on irrigation, cropping systems and water management. Details below. 👇

Interested in learning more about water resources in southwestern Kansas? Join us next week for two WaterSmart Management Events! Learn from professionals about a variety of subjects including alternative cropping systems, enhanced irrigation technologies, storm damage management, and more!

Register for one of the two upcoming WaterSmart events:

March 11: St. John, Kansas

March 12: Garden City, Kansas

RSVP by March 8: https://kstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0lle08ItIolDjE2

Across irrigated agriculture, producers are being asked to manage tighter water limits while still running profitable operations. That tension—between sustainability and economic reality—is exactly where Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) operates.

TAPS competitions are designed around real constraints and regional realities. Each location uses water benchmarks and research frameworks that reflect local conditions, so producers can test decisions that actually matter where they farm.

In Kansas, TAPS uses Q-Stable as a reference point for water allocation. Q-Stable is a science-based groundwater management concept developed by the Kansas Geological Survey, intended to help stabilize groundwater levels over time in aquifers like the Ogallala Aquifer. It’s not a prescription—it’s a benchmark used to create realistic learning conditions.

Under a fixed water supply, every decision is connected. Crop mix, acres planted, irrigation timing, and risk management all compete for the same limited resource. Putting more water in one place means giving it up somewhere else.

TAPS doesn’t tell producers what decisions to make. It creates a place to try ideas, see outcomes, compare strategies, and learn from peers—without risking the home operation.

Less water doesn’t remove the need to be profitable. It makes it more urgent.

Learn more about how TAPS uses real constraints to drive real learning:
👉 https://www.k-state.edu/taps/

Congratulations to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln team and the 2025 participants recognized at the Ninth Annual TAPS Awards.

This Nebraska Extension article highlights something that makes the TAPS network unique — producers competing side-by-side in the same field, making real management decisions throughout the season and seeing how those choices affect yield, efficiency, and profitability.

From hybrid selection and nitrogen timing to irrigation and marketing, teams manage a full farm system, not just a single practice.

Programs like this are the foundation of the broader TAPS network across multiple states. Each location may look different, but the goal is the same: create a low-risk environment where producers, researchers, and industry partners can learn together and test management strategies before trying them on their own operations.

We especially appreciate the long-standing support of partners like USDA NRCS and the educators, researchers, and farmers who make the program work.

Great work by the UNL TAPS team — and we’re looking forward to another season in 2026.

Read more:
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/news/top-farm-management-strategies-recognized-ninth-annual-taps-awards/

Top Farm Management Strategies Recognized at Ninth Annual TAPS Awards | CropWatch | Nebraska After months of side-by-side competition, Nebraska producers saw how their management decisions stacked up as TAPS honored top-performing teams from the 2025 season.

Water limits don’t change the goal for Kansas producers. They raise the stakes.

That’s where KSU-TAPS, part of Testing Ag Performance Solutions, comes in. Our Kansas competitions are built around the realities producers are already managing—limited water, real risk, and the need to stay profitable.

In Kansas, TAPS uses Q-Stable as the benchmark for water allocation. Developed by the Kansas Geological Survey, Q-Stable is a science-based groundwater management concept tied to long-term aquifer conditions, including the Ogallala Aquifer. In TAPS, it serves as a realistic constraint—not a mandate—so producers can test decisions under fixed water supplies.

When water is capped, every decision is connected. Crop mix, planted acres, irrigation timing, and risk tolerance all draw from the same limited pool. More water in one place means less somewhere else—just like on the home farm.

KSU-TAPS doesn’t prescribe answers. It creates a place to learn by doing, compare outcomes, and see what actually pencils out when water is limited.

Less water doesn’t remove the need to be profitable. It makes it more urgent.

Learn more about the Kansas TAPS program and upcoming opportunities:
👉 https://www.k-state.edu/taps/

Across the High Plains, farmers aren’t short on data anymore — sensors, apps, imagery, and equipment generate more information than ever.
The challenge is deciding what to do with it.

A news feature from KCBD-TV at the Southwest Cotton Physiology Conference in Lubbock highlighted three researchers who are also part of the TAPS network:

Hope Njuki Nakabuye — Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Sumit Sharma — Oklahoma State University
Jonathan Aguilar — Kansas State University

Each works on a different pieces of the same question: how research and technology actually translate into in-season management decisions on real farms.

That’s the space TAPS operates in — bringing universities and producers together to test irrigation, nutrient management, and technology under production conditions across the Ogallala region.
Worth the watch/read: https://www.kcbd.com/2026/02/12/cotton-farmers-embrace-technology-boost-efficiency/
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Cotton farmers embracing new technology to boost efficiency Information is changing the fiber industry as local growers embrace cutting-edge technology.

The UNL-TAPS Awards Banquet is this weekend, and we’re looking forward to bringing the TAPS community together for an evening of reflection, conversation, and celebration.

This event is open to everyone connected to TAPS—participants, partners, sponsors, and those interested in the data, outcomes, and lessons from this season. Spouses are very welcome, and we hope you’ll join us for a relaxed evening together.

During the program, we’ll recognize this year’s award recipients, share key results and insights from across the six competitions, and reflect on what we learned from managing across different environments. While each site faced its own challenges, the banquet is a chance to compare perspectives, discuss outcomes, and celebrate the willingness to test ideas and learn from the results.

📍 Younes Conference Center South | Kearney, Nebraska
🗓 Saturday, January 31, 2026
🕔 5:00 PM – Social
🕕 6:00 PM – Meal
🕖 7:00 PM – Awards Program

An evening that reflects the spirit of TAPS—bringing people together around data, decisions, and shared learning. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4taQ092

🚨 Event Update: KSU-TAPS Awards Banquet 🚨

Due to forecasted snowfall and dangerously cold temperatures, we’ve made the decision to postpone the KSU‑TAPS Awards Banquet in the interest of everyone’s safety.

📅 New Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026
📍 Same time & location as originally planned

We truly appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience. We’re looking forward to celebrating this year’s TAPS results and participants together under safer travel conditions.

👉 Plan ahead: Registration is now open for the new date.
RSVP here: http://bit.ly/4rbewoM

More reminders and updates will be shared as we get closer. In the meantime—please stay safe and warm. ❄️