The Virtual Testing Ag Performance Solutions (VTAPS) has been modeled around the highly successful TAPS (https://taps.unl.edu) program. In the TAPS program farmers and other participants make a series of management decisions as they respond to field, agronomic and technology based information. At the end of the growing season, the TAPS participants see how the compare (rank) against other participants in terms of profitability, irrigation and nitrogen efficiency and crop yield. The TAPS program has helped participants in the self-realization of management changes that need to be improved and participants have adopted new technology and management practices on their farming operation.
The VTAPS program was developed so that high school ag students, and others, could have a similar TAPS experience. VTAPS participants will select the hybrid and seeding rate they wish to plant. They will also be able to apply nitrogen fertilizer (at $0.60 per pound) for pre-plant ($8.50 application cost), sidedress ($8.50 application cost) and five fertigation applications ($1.25 application cost). Participants will also be able to apply irrigation water ($6.10 per acre inch) twice during each week of the simulation (maximum of 1.0 inches per application). Other costs such as machinery, materials, land taxes and opportunity costs amount to $745. Cost of production is calculated on a weekly basis and divided by the Farm Service Agency Annual Production History (APH) of 230 bushels per acre. At the end of the simulation the total cost is divided by the final yield. A complete budget is available at: https://taps.unl.edu/budget (TEMP LINK) . All the decisions and generated weather information will be fed into a crop simulation model, Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) and results will be included in a weekly summary. Participants will also have a soil moisture sensor information showing soil moisture at various depths of the soil profile.
At the end of week 24 participants will be able to see their final yield, cost of production ($/bushel) and nitrogen and irrigation efficiency (Water × Nitrogen Intensification Performance Index – WNIPI, Lo et al., 2019. In a group simulation such as a crop production class, participants will see how they rank in these same categories, allowing them to self-realize what areas of their management decisions are the strongest and which ones could use some improvement. Participants will also be able to see what how much nitrogen has potentially leached below the root zone. The single player version of VTAPS will allow participants to try to improve their yield, cost of production and nitrogen and irrigation application efficiency with additional simulations.
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