While the Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program initially centered on corn, the second-ranking agricultural commodity in Nebraska, a new competition is poised to make its mark in the University of Nebraska’s TAPS lineup for 2024, focusing on continuous corn.
Thirteen teams have entered the inaugural year of the continuous corn competition, taking place at the West Central Research, Extension, and Education Center in North Platte. Despite participants cultivating the same crop as the flagship competition, notable distinctions characterize this new event.
In contrast to the sprinkler corn competition, where crops are sown in rotation following soybeans, the continuous corn competition will be planted on a field in its fourth year of corn production.
Participants are tasked with making five key management decisions: crop insurance, seeding rate, nitrogen and irrigation management, and marketing their simulated grain. Awards mirror those of the sprinkler corn competition, with recognition for highest input use efficiency, most profitability, and greatest grain yield, with the highest award amount awarded to the efficiency winner.
"We're focused on highlighting nitrogen and water use efficiency through the new continuous corn competition," emphasized Chuck Burr, UNL Water & Cropping Systems Specialist and TAPS Team Member. Continuous corn necessitates a higher nitrogen fertilizer application compared to corn following soybeans, as there's no legume credit. This renders continuous corn more susceptible to nitrate leaching. "I'm excited to see the insights we can gather regarding nitrogen management in a continuous corn system," Burr added.
To support participants in making informed decisions regarding nitrogen and water management, an array of technologies is at their disposal. Each team will benefit from a permanent soil moisture sensor installed by either Realm Five or GroGuru in one of their replicated plots. Additionally, data from Meter DrainGauge and Irrometer vacuum lysimeters, installed to a depth of 5 feet, will be shared with participants.
Continuum Ag is supporting the TAPS initiative to add an emerging data layer to the project: Carbon Intensity (CI). CI is a US Department of Energy metric used to help quantify the carbon footprint of fuels and their feedstock (corn/soy). Pending tax credits have American farmers and US biofuels positioned to lead the nationwide decarbonization efforts and it is ag's opportunity to show that the industry is already doing quite well and have the technology existing to do even better. Using Continuum's TopSoil Tool, teams will be able to run their CI score, evaluate CI impact influenced by fertilizer management and yield outcomes, plus learn about this critical new data layer.
Participants will also have access to other lab analyses through soil and leaf tissue sampling throughout the season, alongside biomass and grain analyses to inform efficiency assessments. Furthermore, deep soil nitrate samples will be collected at the end of the season and provided to participants. This data will inform them about the potential nitrogen fertilizer remaining in the soil that was not utilized by the corn crop.