SINFO (Soil info for the MARS Crop Yield Forecasting)

Soil Information for the MARS Crop Yield Forecasting System. In 2005, the JRC commissioned a study in order to develop a framework for the incorporation of version 4.0 of the Soil Geographical Database of Europe (SGDBE) in the Crop Growth Monitoring System (CGMS) which is a part of the Mars Crop Yield Forecasting System (MCYFS). This study resulted in an updated European Soil Database which is still under quality control and therefore not ready for release to the public. 

The report is about the development of a framework for incorporating version 4.0 of the Soil Geographical Database of Europe (SGDBE) in the Crop Growth Monitoring System (CGMS) which is a part of the Mars Crop Yield Forecasting System (MCYFS). This report is based on the achievements of the study: 'New soil information for the Crop Growth Monitoring System' and has been published as EU-report EUR 22499 EN. The work is subdivided into different activities which are discussed in the following chapters:

  • generation of soil parameters with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) soil map
  • check and update of WRB soil names
  • rewriting the Pedotransfer Rules (PTR) for salinity, alkalinity and drainage class according to the new nomenclature
  • redefinition of new Soil Physical Groups and their parameters
  • redefinition of new Rooting Depth classes
  • re-evaluation of CGMS Suitability Criteria
  • new evaluation of Soil Suitability Criteria

Download the CD-ROM version here