A spatial analysis framework to assess responses of agricultural landscapes to climates and soils at regional scale

This chapter describes the structure, datasets and processing methods of a new spatial analysis framework to assess the response of agricultural landscapes to climates and soils. Georeferenced gridded information on climate (historical and climate change scenarios), soils, terrain and crop management are dynamically integrated by a process-based biophysical model within a High Performance Computing environment. The framework is used as a research tool to quantify productivity and environmental aspects of agricultural systems. An application case-study using New Zealand spatial datasets and silage maize cropping systems illustrates the current framework capability and highlights key areas for enhancement in future gridded modelling research.