RESOURCE MODELLING: ITS NATURE AND USE

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Abstract
To improve management of resources, such as agricultural crops or forests, scientists attempt to analyse the resource systems and to predict the consequences or outcomes of interventions. They construct models of interactions of components of the systems, drawing on knowledge and experience. In agriculture, five types of models have become common — empirical, crop–weather, crop–growth, crop–system, and crop–process. The models aim mainly to predict crop yields when a series of actions are taken. They differ markedly in complexity, from a simple regression to a series of mechanistic relations aimed at simulating the crop system. The uses to which a model is to be put, and by whom it will be used, are major determinants of the nature of the model so modellers must work with the potential users. In fact, modelling is an exercise in human relations as much as in science. All things being equal, the simpler the model is that meets the objectives of the users, the better are the chances of its being used.