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17th Open Forum on Crop Modeling and Decision Support Systems – Minutes

Sponsored by the DSSAT Foundation, the 17th Open Forum on Crop Modeling and Decision Support Systems was held in Tampa, Florida, on November 4th, 2013. About 30 participants shared news, project progress updates, collaboration opportunities, and upcoming training workshops.

Seventeenth Open Forum on Crop Modeling and Decision Support Systems

Sponsored by the DSSAT Foundation

 ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2013 Annual Meetings, Tampa, Florida, USA

Date/time:  Mon., 4 Nov. 2013, 7:30-9:00 PM
Location:  Tampa Convention Center, Room 21

 

DSSAT Foundation & ICASA

  • Status of ICASA
  • The DSSAT Foundation update

People

  • Paul Wilkens
  • Others

Recent Meetings & Workshops/Publications

  • DSSAT45 training:
    • February, 2013. DSSAT Training @ Chiang Mai University, sponsored by Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) – 27 participants, > 14 countries, fully sponsored
    • DSSAT 2013, May, Griffin, Georgia, USA – 53 participants, > 13 countries; shorter format @ 6 days
  • AgMIP
    • Code sprint with iPlant. Feb. at Texas Advanced Computing Center
    • Multiple Crop Model Training Program on APSIM and DSSAT, March, Kathmandu, Nepal & ICRISAT, India
    • Wheat modeling. June, CIMMYT
    • Global AgMIP, Oct., New York
  • EM&S thematic issues
  • “Agricultural systems modelling and software: current status and future prospects
  • Scientia Agricola (Brazil) special issue on crop modeling (G Hoogenboom)

Upcoming Events (details at www.DSSAT.net)

  • DSSAT training planned for 2014:
    • February, 2014. DSSAT Training at CMU, Thailand, 17 participants will be fully funded by TICA
    • May, 2014 DSSAT 2014 @ UGA, Griffin, Georgia, USA
    • Africa, DSSAT Training sponsored by African Growth and Development Policy (AGRODEP) Modeling Consortium
  • DSSAT developers meeting
    • Major review/effort to improve tools and models
    • Muscle Shoals  AL, early 2014
    • Limited space so contact G Hoogenboom
  • Other meeting or workshops
    • BSSG (postponed from 2013)
    • Field Phenomics: Maricopa, AZ, April 7-10, 2014 (www.fieldphenomics.org)
    • Others?

Activities

  • Ag Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) – C. Rosenzweig, J. Jones, J. Hatfield
    • wheat, maize and rice model comparison (Asseng, Boote)
    • soils (Basso)
    • C3MP (Coordinate Climate-Crop Modeling Project)
    • CTW (CO2, Temperature. Water; Jones, Boote, White)
    • IT Tools (Porter, Jones, White)
    • iPlant — http://iplantcollaborative.org/
      • iPlant has been extended.
      • Links of “systems biology” type modeling to crop modeling has not progressed.
      • Super-computer access available at no charge. K Thorp interface for CSM using Linux.
      • Phenotyping as the next frontier.
      • Data standards and data interchange
        • The ICASA Version 2.0 Data Standards, White et al. (2013). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 96(1):1-12.
        • ICASA/AgMIP – The standards developed for ICASA have been adapted by AgMIP with emphasis on improving metadata. Demand for sub-daily resolution.
        • GRACEnet database – The USDA ARS network for greenhouse gas research has developed a database which has similarities to the ICASA database and is expressly for modeling.
        • USDA ARS “big data” initiative—workshop in Feb., but no major action afterwards
      • Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
        • CRAFT (CCAFS Regional Agricultural Forecasting Toolbox)
      • CIMSANS (Center for Integrated Modeling of Sustainable Agriculture & Nutrition Security)
        • ILSI Research Foundation (International Life Sciences Institute)
        • Modeling initiative (www.ilsi.org/ResearchFoundation/CIMSANS/Pages/HomePage.aspx)
        • Major corporations are supporting

DSSAT 4.X

DSSAT home (www.dssat.net). Check here for news of meetings, to post queries, etc.

  • The current release is downloadable from the web at no charge (> 3,150 downloads)
  • Ongoing work, new features include:
    • Cassava – T. Hunt & CIAT
    • New crops – canola, camelina
    • Sunflower – K. Boote
    • New modules – S. Asseng wheat model, ORYZA model
    • Energy balance – University of Florida and USD-ARS ALARC

Software & data news

  • Soil
    • WISE Version 1.1 soil data base with 3,404 profiles available
    • WISE Version 3.1 soil data base with 9,613 profiles available shortly
    • AfSIS soil data base for Africa; 3,655 profiles from WISE Version 3.1 & 4,773 new Africa profiles, total 8,428
  • NASA/POWER datasets (power.larc.nasa.gov)
    • 1 degree grid for solar and 0.5 degree grid for temperature
    • Discontinuity in solar data (see warning on web site)
    • Higher resolution, better algorithms in beta testing
  • MarkSim GCM
    • Daily weather generated from multiple GCMs
    • www.ccafs.cgiar.org/marksimgcm#.UmnV4RAlhsA
  • Monsanto trial data to AgMIP data
Download the 17th Open Forum on Crop Modeling and Decision Support Systems – Minutes

About Jawoo Koo

Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC. Working on the meso-scale crop systems modeling applicaitons for Sub-Saharan Africa region.

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