9 pages, The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Testing Agricultural Performance Solutions (TAPS) program involves use of farm management competitions to increase engagement across producers, industry, and universities. Participants make several management decisions throughout the growing season in a controlled field trial held at the university research station. Results are analyzed, and awards are presented for most profitable farm, most efficient farm, and farm with the greatest grain yield. The TAPS program involves several techniques for facilitating participatory assistance, including two-way communication and transformational learning. It has resulted in participants' questioning their past management decisions and realizing that they need to improve their marketing skills to improve profitability.
7 pages, Use of cover cropping systems has multiple benefits for agriculture. To convince vegetable growers to adopt such systems, we applied a field demonstration in which we grew selected cover crops during the off-season and then tomatoes. We focused on implementation of a science-based demonstration design and attended to the usefulness of the demonstration and audience timing preferences. As a result, growers grasped the advantages of growing cover crops and, consequently, have extensively adopted cover cropping systems, thereby applying a critically important practice for crop management and agricultural sustainability. Our method and findings can help Extension educators better implement programs to convince agricultural producers to adopt desirable farming practices that improve sustainable agriculture.