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Submitted to: Proceedings of American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 10/15/2008 Publication Date: 10/30/2008 Citation: Rotz, C.A. 2008. The Integrated Farm System Model: A Tool for Whole Farm Nutrient Management Analysis. Proceedings of American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Section 6. Interpretive Summary: An interpretive summary is not required. Technical Abstract: With tighter profit margins and increasing environmental constraints, strategic planning of farm production systems is becoming both more important and more difficult. This is especially true for integrated crop and animal production systems. Animal production is complex with a number of interacting processes that include crop and pasture production, crop harvest, feed storage, grazing, feeding, and manure handling. The Integrated Farm System Model provides a useful tool for integrating the many biological and physical processes in farm production to predict the long-term performance, environmental impact, and economics of production systems. Crop production, feed use, and the return of manure nutrients back to the land are simulated over many years of weather. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and carbon flows through the farm are modeled to predict potential nutrient accumulation in the soil and losses to the environment. Simulated performance is used to determine production costs, income, and farm net return for each year. This tool has been used to evaluate many cropping, feeding, and manure handling strategies in dairy production. The Integrated Farm System Model is a Windows based program that is available for download and installation from the Internet site of the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit (http://ars.usda.gov/naa/pswmru). |
