Crop Plan Design and Test

Performance Survey Simulation - Crop Plan Design and Test

Demonstrates: The simulation of a tree list, short and long term projection and evaluation of results.

In Example 1, a Crop Plan is a formalized in a tabular description of the establishment, growth and environmental factors affecting a stand. The MGM system executes the crop plan, event by event, to simulate the sequence of events in the development of the stand. The Sample Crop Plan would look something like the following table.

Crop Plans   Help Example 2 Saved: 1247 May 15 2009
 - Stand Age Year Events Settings - - - -
Crop Plans CropPlansID := Help Example 1
Crop Plan CropPlanID := Example 1
Options Region := 1 SubRegion := 1 StandsWbkName := MGM _MinDbh := 13.51 _topdib := 10
14 2000 Establish StandID := AWSW StandWT := 1 SourceIndex := 2 Seed := 0.2905 GapArea% := 15
14 2000 Grow Schedule := 3 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
152 2138  End

In this table, notice that the first two rows, highlighted in green, are headers used to label the Plan and the contents that appear beginning in row 3. The row highlighted in yellow may change and represents the "current" event. The limits of the entire Plan are denoted rows with "Crop Plans" in the Event column and the final "End" row. The Crop plan limits are denoted by the "Crop Plan" event and the next "End" event below it. In this table the Plan consists of a single Crop Plan. More complex Plans could include several Crop Plans.
The main phases of crop plan design are shown below. Follow the links with each heading to complete your own example Crop Plan. This is available for reference as you familiarize yourself with the phases of design.

Ex. 1 (Phase 1) Design the initial stand

Initial design of a Crop Plan normally starts with an "untitled" Crop Plan retrieved from the Crop Plans workbook. One can also start from a previously-designed plan that has similar characteristics. The new crop plan is then adapted to your current needs by editing or deleting existing events and inserting new ones. All Crop Plans include Establish and Grow events. At least one Options event must appear in a list of crop plans, but it need not appear in every Crop Plan. Option settings for a Crop Plan are based on the first Options event found before the Establish event.

Ex.1 (Phase 2) Design the growth projection

The growth event sets the intervals that determine the stand ages and years when yields are calculated. Other management events may include thinning, harvesting and regeneration.

Ex.1 (Phase 3) The Recording of results

Supplementary information about the Stand may be recorded during the simulation for further study or for archiving.

Ex.1 (Phase 4) Execute the crop plan

Partial execution is used for initial testing of a crop plan to see if the various settings are correct. After all the debugging is finished, the complete crop plan is executed.

Ex.1 (Phase 5) Analyze the results

Results of a growth simulation are found in the Record and other worksheets in the MGM workbook.