In 1998 a two years pilot project was set up with the objective to adapt the European Crop Growth Monitoring System (EU-CGMS) to Belgian conditions and to implement it as a support to Ministry of Agriculture activities.

• A first specific adaptation of this Belgian CGMS-version (B-CGMS) concerned the enhancement of the spatial scale of the system. For instance, the crop growth simulation is run with much more detailed soil and weather information, and the yield predictions are provided for 26 agro-statistical regions (the EU-CGMS only distinguishes Flanders and Wallonia).
• A second innovation concerned the crop acreages which are directly derived from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) of the Ministry of Agriculture. This yearly updated, GIS comprises the boundaries and crop types for all ( 600 000) agricultural parcels in the country.
• Finally, also the remote sensing component was improved, for instance by the use of SPOT-VEGETATION imagery and the introduction of more quantitative approaches.

Since that time a lot of improvements have been realised.The final yield forecasting is now based on a wide range of "indicators" provided by the different crop growth sub-models. For instance, it was found that simple meteorological parameters, such as sums of temperatures or evapotranspiration, integrated over critical phenological stages, often give better results than the outputs of the simulation model. The statistical forecasting module was also extended with more flexible calibration models. Also the remote sensing software was streamlined and integrated within the system.

B-CGMS is now fully operational and able to create timely outputs on a routine base. Since April 2002, a monthly Agrometeorological Bulletin is distributed by electronic mail over a wide audience of interested persons and organisations in Belgium.

This project was carried out thanks to the research program which started in 1998 and founded by the Ministry of Agriculture (CMLAG), by the Federal Services for Scientific, Technical and Cultural affairs (SSTC) and by Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO).

The experience of the B-CGMS project was also extended to the Province of Heilongjiang (China) through collaboration between the Belgian project partners and Heilongjiang Province Institute of Meteorological Sciences (HPIMS). e Belgian Crop Growth Monitoring System (B-CGMS) of Follow-up of the Growth of the Cultures in Belgium) allows the forecast throughout the year and on various space scales (agricultural circumscriptions and areas), of the output of production in the main cultures of Belgium. Other uses, e.g. management of the zones of calamity on a regional scale, can arise from its use.

Contacts:

Bernard Tychon
Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement de l'Universit de Liège.
Avenue de Longwy 185, B-6700 Arlon, Belgium Tel: +32 (0)63/23.08.29
URL: http://www.dsge.ulg.ac.be/arlon

Robert Oger, Dominique Buffet & Yannick CURNEL
Centre wallon de Recherches agronomiques (CRA-W)
Rue de Liroux, 9, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium Tel.: +32 (0)81/62.65.78,
URL: http://cra.wallonie.be

Herman Eerens & Qinghan Dong
Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO)
Boeretang 200, B-2400 Mol, Belgium Tel: +32 (0)14/33.68.00,
URL: http://www.vito.be

The B-CGMS Bulletins are also disseminated via the World AgroMeteorological Information Service (WAMIS). WAMIS is a dedicated web server to make agrometeorological bulletins and advisories issued by WMO Members available to the global agricultural community and can be visited at http://www.wamis.org.