[AgMIP] AgMIP Newsletter -- March, 2011

[Cynthia Rosenzweig]

Dear All,

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)
continues to make progress along several paths.  To keep the AgMIP community
aware of new developments and activities, we will send out periodic project
newsletters to keep you informed of some of the important things that are
going on now.
 **
*In this newsletter*:
*1. AgMIP Participation Questionnaire*
*2. Crop Model Intercomparison and Improvement Activities*
*3. Regional Crop Model Intercomparisons*
*4. Cross-cutting Activities*
*5. UK Department for International Development Support for AgMIP*
*6. AgMIP Web site*
*7. AgMIP Overview Paper*
*8. Amsterdam Meeting*

1.       *AgMIP Participation Questionnaire*.  An AgMIP Participation
Questionnaire was sent out to obtain information from AgMIP participants on
their anticipated contributions to the project. Please take time to fill in
this questionnaire and return it as requested, and we encourage you to pass
this to other colleagues who may be interested in participating in AgMIP
activities. If you did not receive one or lost it, please see our web site (
www.agmip.org) to download a copy.
 2.       *Crop Model Intercomparison and Improvement Activities*. The Crop
Modeling Team has defined a series of activities that will include crop
model intercomparisons on a crop-by-crop basis to characterize uncertainties
in predicted responses to climate change variables, using a few sentinel
sites from around the world that have very good measurements of inputs and
crop responses. These crop-specific analyses will be led or coordinated by
=93volunteers=94 who have developed models for the specific crops, and the
activity will be open for all crop models and modeling groups for each
target crop. Senthold Asseng and Frank Ewert have agreed to lead a
crop-specific model intercomparison activity for wheat. They soon will send
out a message that details how this will be done and ask others to
contribute to this effort for wheat. This exercise will help AgMIP gain
experience in model intercomparisons, which will be useful for improving the
protocol for other crops and developing more specific plans for regional
model intercomparisons and improvements. The Crop Modeling Team will be
asking for other =93volunteers=94 to do lead similar model intercomparision=
s for
other crops, with the aim of having leaders be spread among the different
crop model development groups worldwide.  We envision that most of this work
will be done virtually, with the crop-specific coordinators leading these
efforts. We anticipate that we will receive commitments from the AgMIP
community to lead all of the major food crops.
 3.       *Regional Crop Model Intercomparisons*. Regional AgMIP workshops
will perform similar analyses as those done for each crop. The crop-specific
efforts will provide valuable information to guide the regional work, which
will involve climate, crop, soil, and management conditions and include
multiple crops. The regional workshops will also go beyond the model
intercomparisons to develop simulated results associated with climate
scenarios, adaptation pathways, and uncertainties for use in regional
economic models as well as for global analyses. Regional teams will be
formed as the workshops are planned and held. In contrast to the
crop-specific activities, the regional workshops and regional AgMIP
activities will require funding for each region. Funding for SSA and S Asia
regions have been obtained, and there are ongoing efforts by AgMIP team
members to obtain funding in several other regions, including Brazil,
Australia, North America, Europe, and China, and elsewhere.
 4.       *Cross-cutting Activities*. Three cross-cutting themes emerged in
our Long Beach AgMIP meeting: Uncertainty, Scaling Up, and Agricultural
Adaption Pathways. Several volunteers have been working on concepts for
these themes, and they will be working closely with the different
crop-specific and regional crop modeling efforts. We have asked Daniel
Wallach, Andy Challinor, and John Antle to coordinate the uncertainty,
scaling up, and adaptation pathways cross cutting themes, respectively.
 5.       *UK Department for International Development Support for AgMIP*.
We are pleased to announce a major collaboration between AgMIP and the UK
Department for International Development (DFID) for Sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia.  DFID's support will enable a more thorough analysis of
agricultural models in these important regions through increased
collaborations with regional scientists, regional workshops, and
interactions with regional experts. We will send out more specifics of how
these DFID-supported activities will proceed in the coming weeks.
6.       *AgMIP Web site*.  The AgMIP web site is now live (www.agmip.org).
Please send us your comments to help improve the site and send information
that would be useful to post on the site for others in AgMIP to know about.
The site is still under development so your help is appreciated.
7.       *AgMIP Overview Paper*.  A paper on AgMIP is being written for a
special issue of Agriculture and Forest Meteorology. This paper will present
an overview of AgMIP with some initial results on crop model
intercomparisons and uncertainty.
8.       *Amsterdam Meeting*.  A few AgMIP team members plan to meet in
Amsterdam on April 8-9 because of another meeting that brings together a
number of the crop modeling and IT team members. The main purposes of this
ad hoc meeting are to 1) organize the wheat model intercomparison effort and
establish plans for adding other crops, 2) further develop the IT work that
is needed to support the various crop modeling, climate, and economic
modeling teams, and 3) to have an opportunity for the AgMIP leadership team
and key AgMIP leaders in Europe to explore strategies for EU AgMIP
activities. If anyone is available and interested in attending this meeting
(all attendance will be self-funded) please contact Senthold Asseng <
sasseng at ufl.edu>.
 As always, feel free to contact us with questions, ideas, and opportunities
for AgMIP, and we appreciate your help in connecting additional scientists,
stakeholders, and end-users with the AgMIP community.

Best regards,
Cynthia, Jim, and Jerry

-- =

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig
Goddard Inst. for Space Studies
2880 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
tel. 212-678-5562
fax 212-678-5648
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.agmip.org/pipermail/agmip/attachments/20110303/7ac987d2/a=
ttachment.html