This is in response to Carlos P. Caldeira's message of 21 Feb.
 
The information contained in the DSSAT files is organized well enough =
that it would not require great effort to transfer it to a formal =
relational database.  To my mind, though, the real challenge for someone =
interested in databases for applications in agriculture, is to develop =
of a data model that is complete enough to capture all information that =
relates to agronomic experiments.  The DSSAT file system captures the =
summary information that is most relevant to modelers, but it fails to =
capture the rest.
 
An ideal database would allow storage of the entire experiment protocol =
(goal, objectives, design, implementation, methods of measurement and =
instrumentation) and all raw data.  In other words, it should be =
possible to enter - in a structured manner! - into the database all =
information that traditionally is entered into the experiment logbook.
 
If anybody has plans to work in this area, or has made some progress =
already, I would be interested to hear about it.
 
Regards,
 
Frits van Evert
 
University of Minnesota
Dept. Soil, Water and Climate
St. Paul, MN 55108, USA