The Common Modelling Protocol: A hierarchical framework for simulation of agricultural and environmental systems

A modular approach to simulation modelling offers significant advantages for its application to agricultural and environmental questions, including re-use of model equations in different contexts and with different user-interfaces; configuration of model structures that are most appropriate to a given problem; and facilitation of collaboration between modelling teams. This paper describes the Common Modelling Protocol (CMP), a generic, open and platform-independent framework for modular simulation modelling that is in widespread use. The CMP is distinguished from existing simulation frameworks by taking an explicitly hierarchical view of the biophysical system being simulated and by representing continuous and discontinuous processes equally naturally.