Crop models in Research and Practice:
A Symposium Honoring Professor Joe T. Ritchie

To be held during the
American Society of Agronomy (ASA) Annual Meeting
Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 5-9, 2000

Dr. Joe T. Ritchie one of the founding Fathers of ICASA and its first Co-Chair,
will be retiring from his position as Professor and Homer Nowlin Chair
at Michigan State University later this year. Joe has been one of the most
productive and influential researchers in the world in the area of crop and
soil modeling. His unique ability to simplify the complexities of these
dynamic systems for practical applications has been one of the most important
contributions that helped crop modeling to evolve out of the confinements of
individual scientist's laboratories, into the real-world realm of practical
applications. He has taught many students the importance of functional models
and has influenced many other modeling efforts to adopt this successful
philosophy. His CERES crop-soil models have been used by thousands of people
worldwide for different purposes. They have provided the basic components of
the DSSAT, and other models have adopted soil water and nitrogen components
from CERES. We have seen these models tested all over the world and used in
applications ranging from management of uniform fields, spatially varying
fields, farms, and watersheds to analyses of area-wide crop yields and studying
climate change effects on agriculture in countries around the world. It is
really amazing to see the web of influence that he has created through his
models and thinking.

This is an opportune time for Joe to be recognized by the ASA, by those of us
who have worked with him in various capacities, and by many others who have
been influenced by his work. A 1/2-day oral presentation session will be held
at the ASA meetings as well as a poster session. More details on the time and
location of the symposium will be available from the American Society of
Agronomy at their web address (http://www.asa-cssa-sssa.org/).

For further information contact:

Jime Jones
Distinguished Professor
Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department
P.O.Box 110570
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
email: [log in to unmask]
FAX: (352) 392-4092
Telephone: (352) 392-8694