Citation:
M.S. Castellazzi, G.A. Wood, P.J. Burgess, J. Morris, K.F. Conrad, J.N. Perry, A systematic representation of crop rotations, Agricultural Systems, Volume 97, Issues 1-2, April 2008, Pages 26-33
Abstract:
Crop rotations are allocations by growers of crop types to specific fields
through time. This paper aims at presenting (i) a systematic and rigorous
mathematical representation of crops rotations; and (ii) a concise mathematical
framework to model crop rotations, which is useable on landscape scale modelling
of agronomical practices. Rotations can be defined as temporal arrangements of
crops and can be classified systematically according to their internal
variability and cyclical pattern. Crop sequences in a rotation can be quantified
as a transition matrix, with the Markovian property that the allocation in a
given year depends on the crop allocated in the previous year. Such transition
matrices can represent stochastic processes and thus facilitate modelling
uncertainty in rotations, and forecasting of the long-term proportions of each
crop in a rotation, such as changes in climate or economics. The matrices also
permit modelling transitions between rotations due to external variables.
Computer software was developed that incorporates these techniques and was used
to simulate landscape scale agronomic processes over decadal periods.
