CSU-TAPS 2024 Winners and Strategies

Competitors in CSU-TAPS are tasked with making six types of farm management decisions, with some teams pulling ahead in how their choices together result in winning strategy for profitability, input use efficiency, and yield. Here’s a glimpse at the 2024 winners.

 By Christine Hamilton

CSU-TAPS announced its much anticipated 2024 farm competition winners at a banquet held January 11, 2025, at the CSU Lory Student Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. The social evening celebrated the official end of this growing season-length competition. The banquet culminated with the announcement of this year’s competition winners and the release of the 2024 CSU-TAPS Report containing this year’s competition results.

  An overview of the competition, the report offers a window into winning farm management strategies.

With 26 teams competing this year, each making six different management decisions throughout the growing season – seed hybrid, seeding rate, irrigation, nitrogen, crop insurance and grain marketing – many variables were in play. This year’s dry conditions, with only 3.3 inches of rainfall between May and August, added an extra challenge for participants to contend with.

 New in 2024, teams had the option of competing in one of two irrigation tracks, full irrigation and limited irrigation, with the latter capping teams to using 11.3 inches of water or less for the season.

 At the banquet, Omer Izrael, CSU-TAPS program manager, and Wub Yilma, CSU-TAPS precision irrigation manager, presented a summary of this year’s program and report for an attentive and ag-savvy crowd of about 90 people.

 Here are the winners, along with some observations from Omer about their winning strategies. Take a look at the 2024 CSU-TAPS Report results to spark your own thinking about what took place. Congrats to all 2024 CSU-TAPS winners!

Full Irrigation Most Profitable

Farm 18 – Aaron Powell, Zane Grafton, Andy Martinez, Amelia Coyle, and David Brachtenbach

Team info: Led by Colorado farmer Aaron Powell, Farm 18 included staff from Bayer who also provided DEKALB corn hybrids for the competition.

Winning strategy: “This team produced a high yield, placing third in the full irrigation track, applying relatively low nitrogen beyond pre-plant, and a moderate amount of water,” Omer said. “Their cropping management was solid. The team also did a lot of marketing following a hedging strategy resulting in an average revenue for the competition this year. Combining a high yield with reduced input costs and engaging in marketing – that’s what made them the most profitable.”

Full Irrigation Most Input Use Efficient

Farm 12 – Larry Lempka

Team info: Larry is a producer from Berthoud, Colorado, in Larimer County.

Winning strategy: “Larry didn’t add any nitrogen. He placed his faith in the preplant applied across the field for all teams and the data on high soil nitrogen that we discovered during spring with extensive soil sampling,” Omer said. “He limited his irrigation [but had opted for the full irrigation track]. He irrigated just 10.45 inches, managing it properly and effectively for good results of 180.5 bushels/acre.”

Full Irrigation Highest Yield

Farm 3 – John Fabian and David Convy

Team info: John and David both work as representatives of Channel Seeds, which provided seed for the competition.

Winning strategy: “They had a high seeding rate, and irrigated the most, and applied a good amount of nitrogen,” Omer said. “Their plants were very privileged and yielded accordingly!”

Limited Irrigation Most Profitable 

Farm 25 – Zach Thode

Team info: Zach owns and operates Lehi Ranch in Livermore, Colorado, and grows feed for his livestock.

Winning strategy: “Zach managed to get a decent yield for a really low amount of irrigation,” Omer said. “He had the lowest seeding rate [of 23,500 seeds/acre], applied some nitrogen, and had the lowest costs of everyone. Although he applied little water [5.15 inches], it was throughout the season. He also earned money from selling his unused water, which was a special option in the limited irrigation track [where teams were limited to 11.3 inches and could earn $25/acre-inch for every inch below 16.3 inches].”

Ryan Taylor Award for Limited Irrigation Most Input Use Efficient

Farm 5 – NRCS Greeley Service Center

Team info: This team was made up of staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Service Center in Greeley, Colorado.

Winning strategy: “They didn’t use all the water available to them [10.17 inches], applied a little nitrogen but not a lot [67 pounds/acre], and they got a good yield – coming in second for yield in the limited irrigation track [162.5 bushels/acre],” Omer said. “Fewer inputs and a high yield put them in first.”

Limited Irrigation Highest Yield 

Farm 4 – Brian Lengel

Team info: Brian farms near Burlington in eastern Colorado. The 2023 CSU-TAPS winner of Most Profitable and Most Input Use Efficient, he participated in the limited irrigation track this year.

Winning strategy: “Brian was very on-point with his timing of when he irrigated,” Omer said. “He distributed his water insightfully based on crop water needs and growth stage through the season and had a low seeding rate. If he had added less nitrogen, he might have been the Most Efficient winner.”