Presented by CMU, UGA, UF and ICASA

DSSAT version 4 Cropping System Model
GIS-DSSAT model interfaces
Receive DSSAT v4 software and the book Understanding Options for Agricultural Production

When the Workshop Begins

The training workshop and seminar program will start on Nov 26 and end Dec 7, 2007. It will be held on the Chiang Mai University campus (CMU), Multiple Cropping Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. International participants should plan to arrive one-two days before the program begins to adjust to time zone differences and recover from travel fatigue.

Program Goal and Objectives

The overall goal of this training and seminary program is to familiarize participants with a comprehensive computer model for the simulation of crop growth and yield, soil and plant water, nutrient and carbon dynamics and their application to real work problems.

Rationale

Today more than ever, increased food production and security depend on judicious use of resources. In addition, issues such as climate change, climate variability, soil carbon sequestration and the long-term impact on food production and food security and environmental sustainability, have become important. Many weather, soil, genetic and management factors affect the way a crop will respond to irrigation, fertilizer and other management practices. Determining appropriate crop management strategies under these uncertainties has major economic and environmental implications. Computer simulation models of the soil/plant/atmosphere system with user-friendly GIS interfaces can make a valuable contribution to both furthering our understanding of the processes that determine crop responses and predicting crop performance, resource use and environmental impacts for different environments and management scenarios. User-oriented simulation models greatly facilitate the task of optimizing crop growth and deriving recommendations concerning crop management. They can also be used to determine the potential impact of climate change on crop production and long-term soil carbon sequestration, carbon stock of a landscape, or provide management scenarios for adapting to climate variability.

Specifically the program will focus on:

• Operation of the new Windows-based Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) Version 4 software.
  
  
• Description of the new DSSAT-Cropping System Model, CSM and its modules, such as CROPGRO and CERES, and the science embedded in the models.
  
  
• Minimum data requirements and experimental data collection for systems simulation to address food security issue.
  
  
• Integration of crop simulation models with database management and Geographical Information Systems.
  
  
• Application of the new DSSAT-CSM model to cope with food security issue in SE region by improving the management of cropping systems, especially rice-based cropping systems.