APSIM & The APSIM Initiative

History
The Agricultural Production Systems Research
Unit (APSRU) was founded in the early 1990s
to bring together like minded scientists in the
field of farming systems research.
Parties were CSIRO, the State of Qld & UQ
APSRU grew out of work pioneered in
Queensland, it developed APSIM and had a
large portfolio of collaborative projects.
In 2006, it was recommended that APSIM
development be split from the farming systems
research

APSRU
APSRU is now an informal collaborative
network
Collaboration is around farming systems,
climate risk management and adaptation, and
crop adaptation and improvement R&D
Meeting point to discuss science opportunities,
share knowledge, ideas and learnings and
develop new collaborative projects

The APSIM Initiative

The APSIM initiative (AI) has been established to promote the
development and use of the science modules and infrastructure
software of APSIM.
The AI records a shift in focus in how APSIM is managed. APSIM
development, maintenance and commercialisation are now the
responsibility of the AI and so are now separate from the researchoriented projects activities.
The Foundation Members of the AI are CSIRO, the State of
Queensland (DEEDI) and The University of Queensland. New
parties are welcome to join at any time.
Purpose:
Ongoing development and maintenance of a world class
framework for the testing and simulating of agricultural
systems

AI Technical & Business Agenda

An open and transparent APSIM Community Source
Framework (modified open source)
Aims to facilitate broadly based, collaborative science
Best practice software development & maintenance
Version control process
Science quality control
Scientific Reference Panel acts like an editorial board
IP & risk management
APSIM training & support
Free public good licensing (R&D and education)
Commercial delivery arrangements
Approved by Steering Committee

AI Science Agenda
Farming systems research
Key tool integrated into R&D projects

Broadening of the scope of APSIM

New modules being developed and existing models
being integrated

Crop adaptation and improvement

Used in commercial crop breeding programs

Climate Risk Management and Climate Change

Climate risk management was core to development &
is a key tool in climate adaptation projects

On-farm use
Commercial Use e.g. YieldProphet

APSIMs Central Concept

The soil provides a central

focus, crops, seasons and
managers come and go,
finding the soil in one state
and leaving it in another.

APSIMs Scope

Growth and yield of crops,

pastures and trees
Key soil processes
e.g., water, C, N, P, pH
Surface residue dynamics &
erosion
Diverse range of management
options
Crop rotations, mixtures +
fallowing

APSIM Plug-in / Pull-out modularity

Process based model
Daily timestep
Traditionally single point
Manager

Soilwat

SoilPH

Paddock

SoilWat

SoilN

SWIM
SurfaceOM
SoilP
Chickpea
Maize
Wheat

Erosion

APSIM Plug-in / Pull-out modularity

Now Multi-point
Clock

Met

farm
Report

Manager

Protocol specifies this

Soilwat

paddock1

paddock2

Soilwat

SoilN

SoilN

Residue

Residue

Chickpea

Chickpea

APSIM modules
Including modules built as part of international collaboration

Plant / animal
wheat
sugarcane
mungbean
navybean
maize
hemp
fababean
lupin
cowpea
pigeonpea

sorghum
chickpea
soybean
peanut
sunflower
lucerne
canola
mucuna
lablab
rice

cassava
potato
bambatsi
barley
poppy
grapevine
broccoli
sweetcorn
pearl millet
cotton

Trees (Eucalyptus, Pinus )

Pastures
Weeds (C3,C4 grass,herb)
Parasites (Orobanche,)
Stock
Rodent

Environment
Met
MicroMet
SoilWat (tipping bucket)
SWIM (Richards eqn)
SoilN
SoilP
SoilpH
Solute
Residue
Manure
Erosion
SoilTemp
SOI
WaterStorage
Management
Manager (sow, harvest, fallow )
Tillage
Irrigate
Fertilize
Intercrop/mixture competition

Crop & Soil Modules

Crop/Pasture:
Barley
Bambatsi
Canola
Chickpea
Cowpea
E. Grandis
Faba bean
Fieldpea
Grape (VineLogic)
Hemp
Lablab
Lucerne
Lupin
Maize
Millet
Mucuna

Mungbean
Native pasture
(GRASP)
Navybean
Rice (ORYZA)
Cotton (OZCOT)
Peanut
Pigeonpea
Sorghum
Soybean
Stylo pasture
Sugarcane
Sunflower
Weed
Wheat
Hemp

Soil:
SoilN
Soilwat / SWIM
Solutes
Surface residues
Erosion
Soil structure
Soil acidity
Soil phosphorus
Manure
Seedbank

Example APSIM applications

cereal-legume rotations (Probert et
al.1995)

climate change impacts (Howden et al.,

1999)

ley farming systems (Carberry et al.

1996)

agribusiness value chain (Brennan et al.,

2000)

intercropping systems (Carberry et al.

1996)

tree windbreak systems (Meinke et al. 2001)

deep drainage assessment (Keating et al.,

2001)

soil acidification (Verburg et al., 2001)

risk assessment of GMO (Smith et al. 2001)

effluent irrigation (Brennan et al., 2002)

agroforestry systems (Huth et al., 2002)

crop-weed competition (Keating et al. 1999)

smallholder farming systems (Carberry, 2004)

biodiversity assessment (Huth et al., 2008)

alley farming systems (Nelson et al.

1998)
drought policy formation (Keating &
Meinke 1998)
erosion impacts (Connolly et al. 1998)

genetic trait identification (Robertson et

al. 1999)
seasonal climate forecasting (Hammer
et al. 1999)
on-farm trial analyses (Robertson et al.
1999)

Commercial Use

Running APSIM
Command line/ DOS prompt
APSIM

APSIM User Interface