Development of a web-based decision support system for crop managers: Structural considerations and implementation case

Rapid developments since the mid 1990s of the Internet and the World Wide Web have created great opportunities to develop new approaches for the transfer of technology to farmers in the form of online computer-assisted decision support systems. This paper discusses structural considerations regarding the development of Web-based decision support systems in general and describes the development and deployment of The Crop Weather Program for South Texas, a decision support system for crop managers using modern Web-based technology. The primary goal of this online system was to provide cotton growers easy access to (a) weather data collected by a network of weather stations and (b) a suite of powerful numerical simulation tools for field-specific calculations of a variety of state variables describing the crop and its environment, such as heat unit calculation, occurrence of phenological events, soil moisture content, canopy growth, and crop water use. The online tools currently available to registered users are briefly described. After more than 6 yr, the Crop Weather Program for South Texas is still growing and continues to be a robust, reliable, and easy-to-use Web-based decision support system for crop managers.