A multi-approach software library for estimating crop suitability to environment

The assessment of crop biophysical suitability to agro-environmental conditions is a valuable component of crop production studies, especially when evaluating productivity potential of new crops and areas, or for the assessment of potential cultivation shifts and crop adaptation needs under climate change scenarios. The software component Suitability presented herein implements several published approaches for computing crop suitability, based on available climate, soil and crop information. Users can access the Suitability software component via two application programming interfaces for single- and multi-cell estimations, the latter based on multiple regression methods. The component, extensible by third parties, is released as .NET 3.5 DLL, thus targeting the development of .NET clients. A case study on wheat suitability in Morocco is also presented. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.