Development of tillage system selection software for corn/soybean production
1991
Meyer, C.R. | Parsons, S.D. | Griffith, D.R. | Mannering, J.V. | Steinhardt, G.C.
Development of a regionally-specific expert system to estimate corn/soybean production on an individual-field and whole-farm basis is described. Rules and equations to project yield as a function of tillage system, crop rotation, latitude, soil series, and soybean row spacing and maturity group were derived from interviews with three experts. The resulting knowledge was encoded into computer logic written entirely in C-language. Although very small, the program retains the functionality of expert systems developed in shells. On-line explanations are available to explain why each input is requested. Help screens offer expanded explanation of each question. Conclusions are displayed as they are reached. Management suggestions are offered where appropriate, including recommending a conservation tillage system, flagging highly erodible fields, indicating erosion control measures, suggesting that a field be tilled as two separate fields, and warning against farming steep slopes in row crops. The program goes beyond the features offered by some shells, permitting the user to back up in the program, to execute UNIX or DOS commands from within the program, and to store a partial run in a disk file to be resumed later. The program has been released as Public Domain software, with over 300 copies currently in use.
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