Enhancing Modelling Skills for Agronomists and Crop Scientists

Modelling is a technique used in agronomic research to analyse, predict and project the interactions between genotype, environment and management in agro-ecosystems. Its use in agronomic advisory services and plant breeding is also developing rapidly in France and worldwide, in both private and public sectors. There is a current deficit of people with modelling skills in the European and global job market and that our project aims to address. Our primary planned action in this proposal was to develop and test a set of MSc/PhD courses modules (The EMSACS Course) to allow students to understand how computer models, can be used in research, crop breeding and management, cropping systems design and advisory work. After this course, students should be able to (i) understand the bio-physical processes they wish to model and (ii) use the appropriate tools and methods to develop, assess and run simulation models adapted to their research objectives and data. Our goal for the project was not to teach students about particular models or modelling systems (there already many in the market) - but to help them think and put into practice how they might develop models in their own research or advisory work.