Web-Based Support of Crop Selection for Climate Adaptation

Farmers must now consider climate adaptation amongst other variables when they select crops for the coming year. A changing climate means traditional crop choices may not perform well. Yet, it may be difficult to trust recommendations about new crop choices provided without extensive local knowledge. This paper describes the design and implementation of a prototype tool to support Canadian farmers in their crop selections. However, authoritative data about growing conditions that maximize crop performance has been difficult to assemble. Therefore, we propose an extension to the prototype system that would allow farmers to submit reports of crop performance along with data that describes their growing conditions. With many farmers contributing these experience reports, the data in these reports could be mined to provide localized information about the performance of different crops and the conditions which best support each.