The DSSAT crop modeling ecosystem

Abstract

The Earth’s land resources are finite, whereas the number of people that the land must support continues to grow rapidly. This creates a major problem for agriculture. Production (productivity) must be increased to meet rapidly growing demands while natural resources must be protected. New agricultural research is needed to supply information to farmers, policy makers and other decision makers on how to accomplish sustainable agriculture over the wide variations in climate around the world. In this direction the use of crop models in research is being encouraged.