Rating land for crop introduction

Abstract

A land rating methodology for crop introduction was developed to predict yield and inputs needed to sustain the predicted yield with minimal field experimentation. The methodology was designed to achieve dependable crop introduction without resorting to many long-term expensive field experiments. Yield-affecting variables were integrated into a few land qualities for the convenience of comparing the suitability of different sites in terms of growing the crop. Most of the land qualities of different sites, such as nutrition, were brought up to equal the inputs requirement estimation. Comparisons between sites with these land qualities were made unnecessary. This methodology was built on existing yield, characteristics of the land where yield data are available, Soil Taxonomy, weather data and the growth modelling methodology.