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Session B-3
Title: Cropping system modeling Session organisers: Jim Jones (Univ. of Florida, USA), Mike Robertson (CSIRO, Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia), Graham Russell (Univ. of Edinburgh, UK)
Keynote speaker:
Brian Keating
(CSIRO, Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia)
Scope of session: During the last year, there have been large increases in food demand by emerging economies and increases in the use of agricultural products for producing energy. Food and energy security are now high on the agendas of policy makers, and agricultural production must be increased to achieve food security using sustainable production practices. Superimposed on these issues is an uncertain and changing climate. Research on cropping systems must provide new technologies and information on how to best manage cropping systems to meet the changing demands of agriculture in a variable and changing climate. Cropping systems models are essential tools for optimizing management to meet goals at field, farm, and broader scales. These models integrate climate, soil, and crop characteristics to simulate crop productivity, resource use, and changes in soil and water characteristics at a field scale.This session will focus on recent advances in cropping systems models and new methodologies that make them more effective research tools. New ways of modeling crop, soil, management, climate, and their interactions will be included. The session will also emphasize examples of cropping system model applications to address contemporary issues that society faces, including those associated with climate change, energy production, resource use efficiency, and environmental impacts. Applications will also demonstrate the use of cropping systems models to address issues at field, farming system, watershed, regional and higher scales when integrated with economic, hydrology, climate, and other spatially-explicit models.
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