Annex 4 analytical methods
model description
general description
- acronym
- EPIC
- name
- Environmental impact calculator
- main purpose
- EPIC simulates approximately eighty crops, predicting effects of management decisions on soil, water, nutrient and pesticide movements, and their combined impact on soil loss, water quality, and crop yields for areas with homogeneous soils and management.
- homepage
- http://epicapex.tamu.edu/epic/
Developer and its nature
- ownership
- Third-party ownership (commercial companies, Member States, other organisations, …)
- ownership additional info
- Texas A&M AgriLife Research
- is the model code open-source?
- NO
Model structure and approach with any key assumptions, limitations and simplifications
- details on model structure and approach
The EPIC model was developed to evaluate the effect of various land management strategies on
agricultural sustainability including erosion, water supply and quality, soil quality, plant competition,
weather, pests, and economics. Management capabilities include irrigation, drainage, furrow diking, buffer strips, terraces, waterways, fertilization, manure management, lagoons, reservoirs, crop rotation and selection, pesticide application, grazing, and tillage. Besides these farm management functions, EPIC can be used to evaluate the effects of global climate change. EPIC is an application written in Fortan with the possibility to use a user friendly graphical interface (WinEPIC).
- model inputs
Model inputs:
- daily meteorological data
- soil profile information: texture, organic matter content
- landuse data with crop distribution
- farm management data: planting, harvesting, tillage, fertilization, pesticide application, irrigation
More specifically:
- regional and global weather/climate change data (statistics)
- regional and global soil data
- regional and global land use data and representative crop rotations
- regional and global topography data
- regional and global crop management data (e.g. fertilization, irrigation, tillage)
- model outputs
Model output:
- biomass production
- nutrient losses:
- nitrate losses ins surface runoff and leaching to aquifers
- organic N losses in sediments
- gaseous losses of N
- phosphorus leaching to aquifer and losses with sediments and surface runoff
- nutrient pool
More specifically:
- crop yields
- hydrology (PET, runoff, percolation)
- sediment transport
- N-leaching
- greenhouse gases
- soil carbon sequestrations
Intended field of application
- policy role
Not provided.
- policy areas
- Climate action
- Environment
Model transparency and quality assurance
- Are uncertainties accounted for in your simulations?
- YES - Large body of literature is available including about model use & calibration.
- Has the model undergone sensitivity analysis?
- YES - Large body of literature is available including about model use & calibration.
- Has the model been published in peer review articles?
- YES - Large body of literature is available about the model including peer reviewed articles.
- Has the model formally undergone scientific review by a panel of international experts?
- NO
- Has model validation been done? Have model predictions been confronted with observed data (ex-post)?
- YES - Large body of literature is available including about model validation.
- To what extent do input data come from publicly available sources?
- Based on both publicly available and restricted-access sources
- Is the full model database as such available to external users?
- NO - An internal database has been built by the Water and Marine Resources Unit. It has been aligned when possible with the data used by the LISFLOOD model.
- Have model results been presented in publicly available reports?
- YES
- Have output datasets been made publicly available?
- NO - The model results, in particular those linked to estimation of irrigation have been made available.
- Is there any user friendly interface presenting model results that is accessible to the public?
- NO
- Has the model been documented in a publicly available dedicated report or a manual?
- YES - User manual available from the website.
Intellectual property rights
- Licence type
- Free Software licence
application to the impact assessment
Please note that in the annex 4 of the impact assessment report, the general description of the model (available in MIDAS) has to be complemented with the specific information on how the model has been applied in the impact assessment.
See Better Regulation Toolbox, tool #11 Format of the impact assessment report).