STICS model

The Stics model is a dynamic, generic and robust model aiming to simulate the soil-crop-atmosphere system. The crop model known as STICS (Simulateur mulTIdisciplinaire pour les Cultures Standard, or multidisciplinary simulator for standard crops) was created at INRA, the French national institute for agricultural research, in 1996 on the initiative of Nadine Brisson with informatics support from Dominique Ripoche. The creators built the STICS model from “pieces” by bringing together the GOA (plant), BYM (water), and LIXIM (nitrogen) models, which had essentially been produced by two INRA teams, one in Avignon and one in Laon. At the beginning, STICS simulated two main crops, wheat and corn, and was used for the first time as part of the ECOSPACE project (1997) to simulate agricultural production and nitrate leaching on the basis of soil heterogeneity. Very soon afterward, the need to adapt STICS to capture new crops and new practices was identified.