TAPS & Master Irrigator
Supporting producers in using precision farm management strategies,
to maximize water and input use efficiency and farm profitability!
Testing Ag Performance Solutions
TAPS is a unique, growing-season length farm management competition held on one field, hosted at university farms.
Encourages and rewards input use efficiency and profitability
Participants test and try precision farming strategies and ag technologies, risk-free.
Supports data-driven management decisions: crop hybrid, seeding rate, irrigation, fertilization, insurance, and marketing
Offers collaborative learning for producers, students, and ag sector partners
A short time commitment yields valuable insights and practical applications
“When it comes to trusting technology, TAPS is huge to help drive more comfort and reliability when you use those tools.”
Master Irrigator
This interactive, 4-day training course is for irrigators—focused on producers, water managers, and tech service providers.
Encourages precision water management and conservation for profitability
Incorporates hands-on ag tech training and peer discussion
Networks producers, industry, university and other ag sector experts
Includes foundations of irrigation hydrology, agronomy and engineering
Prioritizes local water management needs and challenges
Programs in each state provide graduates with incentives to support precision tech and strategy implementation.
“Instead of looking at my phone and saying, ‘Are the pivots all running?’ [after Master Irrigator] the other thing I think about is ‘Why are the pivots running?’”
Supported by the Multi-State TAPS + Master Irrigator Project
TAPS and Master Irrigator programs currently in operation across the U.S.
The Multi-State TAPS + Master Irrigator Project is a collaborative project launched in the High Plains to expand these proven, producer-focused programs—Master Irrigator and Testing Ag Performance Solutions—across the region and beyond.
Supported by a unique, multi-state USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service contribution agreement, matched with non-federal funding 2023-2028
Jointly-led by Colorado State University’s Irrigation Innovation Consortium and Kansas State University, working with partners from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oklahoma State University, and Texas A&M University
Involves a multitude of public and private agricultural industry partners committed to supporting producers in navigating critical water-related challenges (see partners below)
Anticipated project outcomes:
Strengthen TAPS and MI programs to reach more producers and ag stakeholders, measure efficiency impacts, and inform policy from local to national scales
Understand potential return on investment connected to implementing precision and advanced agricultural management strategies and technologies
Link and engage crop and livestock production system partners to reduce risks posed by limited and declining water resources
Find Your TAPS
Become a Master Irrigator
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Arizona Master Irrigators Program
Just launched in 2026!
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CO MI began in 2020 in the Republican River Basin in northeastern, Colorado. It expanded to the San Luis Valley in 2022, the Four Corners area in 2024, and added the Arkansas Valley and Delta Mesa in 2025, for a total five annual classes, statewide. The program plans to add a South Platte River Basin program in 2026. The program estimates impacting more than 200,000 acres across Colorado through the end of 2024.
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Launched in a developmental format in 2023, GA MI aims to help Georgia producers improve efficiency in irrigation management. Its sessions include hands-on training in advanced technologies such as soil moisture sensors, scheduling apps, interpreting data, and more. It runs under the UGA Extension Ag Water Team.
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MIP is a three-day, in-person seminar for irrigators and irrigation professionals. Completing MIP is a requirement for agricultural operations to receive Irrigation Endorsement to the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture—with benefits in regulatory compliance, technical assistance, and more.
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Initially targeted to the Mississippi Delta region, Mississippi State University Extension launched MI in 2023. In response to grower feedback, the program has increased its hands-on sessions and includes a hybrid aspect, offering online modules for some aspects of the curriculum to be completed prior to the seminar.
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NE MI development began in 2024, with a meeting of statewide partners including local natural resources districts, state and federal agencies, and commodity and environmental organizations, and private ag industry partners. In 2025, the project implementation team held five curriculum design summits across NE on irrigation, soils, policy, and farm management.
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Master Irrigator Program from OSU Extension
OK MI includes classroom training, peer-to-peer exchange of information between producers, and field demonstrations. For graduates, the OSU Mobile Irrigation Laboratory provides free pumping energy and irrigation system audits and uniformity tests. Other graduate benefits include reimbursements on soil moisture sensor purchases.
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The North Plains Groundwater District in Dumas, Texas, originally founded the Master Irrigator program in 2016 to address water shortage in the Texas Panhandle. Operating annually since, the landmark program maintains a dynamic and relevant curriculum that continues to inspire program expansion.
“[TAPS] is a great opportunity to build datasets and correlations that show that something can be done [on your own operation] that you wouldn’t normally choose to do.”
“By the end of the first day, I was all in. I knew from what they were teaching me I was going to save a lot of money this next growing season.”
