Crops

GLOBIOM covers 18 major crops¹, which represented about 80 % of the 2007 global harvested area. Four management systems are considered (irrigated, high input – rainfed, low input – rainfed and subsistence) corresponding to the IFPRI crop distribution data classification.

Crop supply can enter one of three processing/demand channels: consumption, livestock feeding or biofuel production. Consumption demand is modeled by constant elasticity functions. Biofuel options from crops include first generation technologies for ethanol from sugarcane, corn and wheat, and biodiesel from rapeseed, palm oil and soybeans.

EPIC

EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate Model; Izaurralde et al., 2006²; Williams, 1995³) is a daily time step process based crop growth model capable of simulating many agro-ecosystem processes including crop growth, tillage, leaching and soil organic matter dynamics.

EPIC has been set up and is used to perform global runs for GLOBIOM by Erwin Schmid from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU).

The major EPIC outputs used in GLOBIOM are the management specific spatially explicit crop yields, fertilizer and irrigation rates, and environmental impacts like nitrogen leaching.

¹ Barley, dry beans, cassava, chick peas, corn, cotton, groundnut, millet, potatoes, rapeseed, rice, soybeans, sorghum, sugarcane, sunflower, sweet potatoes, wheat, oil palm

² Izaurralde, R.C., Williams, J.R., McGill,W.B., Rosenberg, N.J. and Jakas, M.C.Q. (2006). Simulating soil C dynamics with EPIC: model description and testing against long-term data. Ecological Modelling 192: 362-384. [download]

³ Williams, J.R. (1995). The EPIC model. In: V.P. Singh (eds), Computer models of Watershed Hydrology.Water Resources Publications: Highlands Ranch, Colorado, 909-1000.

<< main page