WOFOST - WOrld FOod STudies

WOFOST - WOrld FOod STudies

WOFOST (WOrld FOod STudies) is a simulation model for the quantitative analysis of the growth and production of annual field crops.

It is a mechanistic, dynamic model that explains daily crop growth on the basis of the underlying processes, such as photosynthesis, respiration and how these processes are influenced by environmental conditions. 

With WOFOST, you can calculate attainable crop production, biomass, water use, etc. for a location given knowledge about soil, crop, weather and crop management (e.g. sowing date). WOFOST has been used by many researchers over the world and has been applied for many crops over a large range of climatic and management conditions (see documentation). WOFOST is one of the key components of the European MARS crop yield forecasting system. In the Global Yield Gap Atlas (GYGA) WOFOST is used to estimate the untapped crop production potential on existing farmland based on current climate and available soil and water resources.

WOFOST originated in the framework of interdisciplinary studies on world food security and on the potential world food production by the Center for World Food Studies (CWFS) in cooperation with the Wageningen University & Research, Department of Theoretical Production Ecology (WAU-TPE) and the DLO-Center for Agrobiological Research and Soil Fertility (AB-DLO), Wageningen, the Netherlands. After cessation of CWFS in 1988, the DLO Winand Staring Centre (SC-DLO) has continued development of the model in co-operation with AB-DLO and WAU-TPE. 

Currently, the WOFOST model is maintained and further developed by Wageningen Environmental Research in co-operation with the Plant Production Systems Group of Wageningen University & Research and the Food Security unit of the Joint Research Centre in Italy.

This website serves as a reference point for information about WOFOST and also provides binaries and source code (if possible) for several implementations of WOFOST.

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