APSIM e Evolution towards a new generation of agricultural systems simulation

Dean Holzworth, Neil Huth, Peter deVoil, Eric Zurcher, Neville Herrmann, Greg McLean, Karine Chenu, Erik Van Oosterom, Val Snow, Chris Murphy, Andrew Moore, Hamish Brown, Jeremy Whish, Shaun Verrall, Justin Fainges, Lindsay Bell, Allan Peake, Perry Poulton, Zvi Hochman, Peter Thorburn, Donald Gaydon, Neal Dalgliesh, Daniel Rodriguez, Howard Cox, Scott Chapman, Alastair Doherty, Edmar Teixeira, Joanna Sharp, Rogerio Cichota, Iris Vogeler, Frank Li, Enli Wang, Graeme Hammer, Michael Robertson, John Dimes, Anthony Whitbread, James Hunt, Harm van Rees, John Hargreaves, Neil McLeod, Cam McDonald, Justin Harsdorf, Sara Wedgwood, Brian Keating. (15/7/2014). APSIM e Evolution towards a new generation of agricultural systems simulation. Environmental Modelling & Software, 62, pp. 237-350.

Abstract

Agricultural systems models worldwide are increasingly being used to explore options and solutions for the food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation and carbon trading problem domains. APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator) is one such model that continues to be applied and adapted to this challenging research agenda. From its inception twenty years ago, APSIM has evolved into a framework containing many of the key models required to explore changes in agricultural landscapes with capability ranging from simulation of gene expression through to multi-field farms and beyond. Keating et al. (2003) described many of the fundamental attributes of APSIM in detail. Much has changed in the last decade, and the APSIM community has been exploring novel scientific domains and utilising software developments in social media, web and mobile applications to provide simulation tools adapted to new demands. This paper updates the earlier work by Keating et al. (2003) and chronicles the changing external challenges and opportunities being placed on APSIM during the last decade. It also explores and discusses how APSIM has been evolving to a “next generation” framework with improved features and capabilities that allow its use in many diverse topics.