AquaCrop-OS is a free, open-source implementation of AquaCrop, a crop water productivity model developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). AquaCrop-OS is provided in Matlab/Octave and Python programming languages, and is currently updated to version 6.0 of the FAO AquaCrop model.
AquaCrop-OS simulates yield response to water for multiple crop types and environmental conditions, and is designed specifically for regions where water is a critical limiting factor in crop production. AquaCrop-OS is intended for use by both scientists and practitioners, and requires minimal data inputs in comparison with most other crop models.
AquaCrop-OS introduces several new innovative features on top of the FAO GUI and PlugIn versions of AquaCrop:
An introduction to AquaCrop-OS can be found in the following journal papers:
AquaCrop-OS simulates yield response to water for multiple crop types and environmental conditions, and is designed specifically for regions where water is a critical limiting factor in crop production. AquaCrop-OS is intended for use by both scientists and practitioners, and requires minimal data inputs in comparison with most other crop models.
AquaCrop-OS introduces several new innovative features on top of the FAO GUI and PlugIn versions of AquaCrop:
- Support for multiple operating systems (Windows, Macintosh OS X and Linux).
- Free access to version controlled model source code enabling users to customise, modify, and extend features within AquaCrop
- Ability to run parallel model simulations and integrate with cloud computing to reduce run times of computationally intensive tasks.
- Easy linkage with other models via Open Modelling Interface to support basin and multi-sector water management and policy analysis
- Interactive training resources through a series of web tutorials and workflows for common use cases developed in Jupyter notebooks
An introduction to AquaCrop-OS can be found in the following journal papers:
- T. Foster, N. Brozovic, A.P. Butler, C.M.U. Neale, D. Raes, P. Steduto, E. Fereres, and T.C. Hsiao (2017) AquaCrop-OS: An open source version of FAO's crop water productivity model. Agricultural Water Management, 181, 18-22. (Open Access)
- T. Kelly and T.Foster (2021) AquaCrop-OSPy: Bridging the gap between research and practice in crop-water modeling. Agricultural Water Management, 254, 106976. (Open Access)
Development Team
Tim Foster - Lead Developer
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Water-Food Security, University of Manchester |
Tom Kelly - Co-Developer
Postdoctoral Researcher in Crop-Water Modelling, University of Manchester |
Contributors
The following people contributed to the development of AquaCrop-OS:
- Nick Brozovic, Water for Food Global Institute
- Christopher Neale, Water for Food Global Institute
- Adrian Butler, Imperial College London
- Dirk Raes, KU Leuven
- Pasquale Steduto, FAO
- Elias Fereres, University of Cordoba
- Ted Hsiao, UC Davis
Acknowledgments
AquaCrop-OS has been supported by funding provided by UK Research and Innovation, Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, and the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester. We also acknowledge the members of the AquaCrop science group and network for their efforts in the conceptualization, development, calibration, validation, and testing of AquaCrop.