A new plug-in under RECORD to link biophysical and decision models for crop management

Abstract

Developing sustainable crop systems is a major challenge. Presently, management practices are simulated using either biophysical models or simple farmer decision models. As a result, there is a lack of generic models integrating both biophysical parameters and farmer decision parameters. Here, we developed an original graphical plug-in to sketch and implement decision-making models and to link them with biophysical models. For that, we used the RECORD platform, standing for REnovation and COORDination of agro-ecosystem modeling. Different pop-up windows allow to create the model using a decision formalism then to implement the model under the RECORD platform. The sequence of technical operations is formally modeled as a direct multi-graph without retroaction. The plug-in allows defining activities, relation between activities, and decision rules to trigger the different activities. The resulting model is independent of any biophysical model and can then be linked with different crop models. An example is given on an innovative cropping systems part of the MicMac-Design project. The decision-making model is then linked with the STICS crop model.