Predicting maize and soybean production in a sheltered field in the Cornbelt region of North Central USA

Shelterbelts (field windbreaks) are an important tool for farming in semi-arid areas but are not commonly used. An obstacle to the adoption of shelterbelts is the lack of site-specific information about the benefits and costs associated with establishing and maintaining them. A group of researchers has been developing a modeling system that will estimate site-specific effects, benefits, and costs for sheltered fields that produce maize or corn (Zea maize) and soybean (Glycine max) in the U.S. Corn Belt region. Akey component of the modeling system is the use of the CROPGRO-Soybean and CERES-Maize models to simulate yield response to microclimatic changes acrossa sheltered field. In this work, we tested the ability of both models to simulate yield in a sheltered field, evaluated the potential yield increase of shelterbelts based on long-term simulations, and compared the influence of shelter induced changes in temperature and windrun on yield. Both models simulated yield increases due to shelter. The soybean model was more responsive to microclimatic differences than the maize model. Long-term simulations generally showed a field level increase in yield due to shelter for maize and soybeans with an average increase of 4.1 and 3.3, respectively. Change in windrun due to shelter is more important in increasing yield than changes in temperature. The CERES-Maize model seems to be more sensitive to changes in windrun than the CROPGRO-Soybean model.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]