Crop Modelling Guide

This book is the learning and design core of the cropmodelling repository.

It is not only about one wrapper, one crop, or one model family.

It is meant to grow into a broader crop-modeling guide that can support:

  • beginners learning the field from zero
  • interns learning to move from raw notes to simulation
  • researchers building reproducible workflows
  • contributors working across multiple crop-model ecosystems

What this repository is trying to become

The long-term aim is a crop-modeling environment that can eventually support:

  • DSSAT workflows
  • APSIM workflows
  • STICS workflows
  • multiple wrappers and runners
  • ensemble modeling
  • model comparison
  • crop-model-agnostic orchestration

That means the repository should not be framed as "the DSSAT-wrapper repo."

Instead, DSSAT-wrapper is one concrete lesson and implementation pathway inside a larger crop-modeling system.

What this book tries to do

This book combines several layers:

  • beginner agronomy and crop-modeling concepts
  • DSSAT-oriented file and workflow lessons
  • a hemp case-study pathway
  • practical onboarding exercises
  • a broader ecosystem vision for future models and runners

Where DSSAT-wrapper fits

The DSSAT-wrapper work is already hosted separately:

Inside this book, DSSAT-wrapper is treated as:

  • one practical implementation example
  • one lesson path for running a real model family
  • one stepping stone toward broader crop-modeling infrastructure

Suggested reading paths

If you are completely new

Start here:

  1. Agronomy Basics for Modelers
  2. Concepts for Beginners
  3. What Is Crop Modeling?
  4. How DSSAT Thinks Day by Day
  5. Growth Stages, GDD, and Photoperiod
  6. DSSAT Weather Files Explained
  7. DSSAT Soil Files Explained
  8. Worked Case Study: Weather, Soil, and Management Construction
  9. End-to-End Intern Exercise: From Raw Notes to a Finished Run

If you want the current DSSAT lesson path

Start here:

  1. DSSAT in This Ecosystem
  2. DSSAT File Anatomy
  3. Installed DSSAT Setup
  4. Using GitHub-Sourced Example Data
  5. Hopf Paper Case Study

If you care about the bigger platform direction

Start here:

  1. Model Ecosystem Vision
  2. Repository Tour
  3. How Calibration Actually Works
  4. Visualizing Results

What has changed in this reframed version

This guide is no longer presented as a wrapper manual with extra lessons around it.

It is now presented as a crop-modeling guide with:

  • a DSSAT section
  • a hemp example pathway
  • a training path for interns
  • a future-facing vision for multiple models and multiple runners

That change is intentional.