---
id: engines/dssat
about:
  label: DSSAT
  description: >-
    DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) simulates crop
    growth, development and yield from daily weather, soil and management data,
    with models for over 45 crops; free to download.
  tags:
    - crops
    - agriculture
    - yield
tool:
  form: Crop-model suite
  group: Ecosystems and land
  homepage: 'https://dssat.net/'
open:
  source: unknown
  data: unknown
  api: unknown
  participation: unknown
domains:
  - food
relations:
  - predicate: answers
    target: questions/land-use-change
provenance:
  origin: agent
  sources:
    - title: DSSAT.net - Official Home of the DSSAT Cropping Systems Model
      url: 'https://dssat.net/'
    - title: DSSAT Overview
      url: 'https://dssat.net/about/'
  reviewed: '2026-10-18'
  reviewed_by: 'Claude, from the sources listed'
  status: draft
---
DSSAT is a Windows application that bundles crop simulation models for over 45 crops with database tools for soil, weather, management and experimental data. The models simulate growth, development and yield day by day from the interaction of soil, plant and atmosphere; the site's reference citation names the DSSAT Foundation in Gainesville, Florida, and the University of Florida appears throughout as a partner in training and development.

It is used at scales from a single field to a region: on-farm and precision management, assessments of climate variability and change, crop water use, greenhouse-gas emissions, soil carbon and nitrogen balances, and in-season yield forecasting. CRAFT, a yield-forecasting tool built with the University of Florida, uses DSSAT as its engine at 5 or 30 arc-minute resolution and has been applied to wheat and rice in Nepal and Bangladesh.

A run needs daily weather, a soil profile, detailed crop management and cultivar parameters; the package includes tools to compare simulated with observed results before a model is used for decisions. The software is free of charge; the latest version is 4.8.6 (July 2026), and the site reports more than 40,000 downloads.