Quantification of the impact of hydrology on agricultural production as a result of too dry, too wet or too saline conditions

“For calculating the effects of hydrological measures on agricultural production in the Netherlands a new climate proof method is being developed: WaterVision Agriculture. End users would like a new method that considers current and future climate, that can quantify the differences between years and also the effects of extreme weather events. Furthermore they would like a method that considers current farm management and that can distinguish three different causes of crop damage: drought, saline conditions or too wet conditions causing oxygen shortage in the root zone. WaterVision Agriculture is based on the hydrological simulation model SWAP and the crop growth model WOFOST. SWAP simulates water transport in the unsaturated zone using meteorological data, boundary conditions (like groundwater level or drainage) and soil parameters. WOFOST simulates crop growth as a function of meteorological conditions and crop parameters. Using the combination of these models we will derive a set of easily applicable tools and simplified relations for assessing crop growth as a function of soil type and groundwater level. We will base these tools on multiple model runs for at least 72 soil units and the possible groundwater regimes in the Netherlands, starting with the crops silage maize and grassland. For this assessment, the soil characteristics (soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity) are very important input parameters as well as the uncertainty of these characteristics for all soil layers of these 72 soil units. These 72 soil units cover all soils in the Netherlands. We will present the method that we used to arrive at the simplified relations and also show some of the results. We will also show how WaterVision Agriculture can be used by farmers, regional government, water boards and others to assess crop damage as a function of groundwater characteristics or as a function of the salt concentration in the root zone for the various Dutch soil types.”

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

(Citaat: Hack-ten Broeke, M.J.D., Kroes, J.G., Bartholomeus, R.P., et al. – Quantification of the impact of hydrology on agricultural production as a result of too dry, too wet or too saline conditions – SOIL 2(2016)3, p.391-402 – Open Access)