The SIMPLACE crop and ecosystem management modelling platform

Process-based crop models have become a central tool for agricultural systems analysis, allowing scientists to explicitly define model structures most suited to a given research question and data availability. With the evolution of computation and programming language paradigms, algorithms describing well-established physiological processes at different levels of detail have become modular and exchangeable across modelling platforms. In this chapter, we present the flexible modelling platform SIMPLACE (Scientific Impact Assessment and Modelling Platform for Advanced Crop and Ecosystem Management). A brief overview is given about how SIMPLACE's core engine and modularisation scheme can represent crop and genetic differences in contrasting environments. We also show SIMPLACE applications with emphasis on genotype x environment (G x E) interactions and areas for further model enhancement in this topic.