Input data set: Crop calendar

GGCMI crop calendar for Phase 3.

The crop calendar dataset should be used to calibrate heat unit requirements (ie, PHU) for each crop model (as they differ for their thermal time implementation) and each climate scenario. Then the sowing dates and heat requirements are used as input datasets for the same crop models.

This is a composite product merging various observational data sources. For maize, rice1, millet, sorghum, soybean, spring wheat, and winter wheat, growing seasons have been computed following the rule-based approach by Minoli et al. 2019, Modelling cropping periods of grain crops at the global scale, Global and Planetary Change, 174, 35-46, doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.12.013. For all other crops, '2015soc' static growing season data are used from Jägermeyr et al. 2021, Climate impacts on global agriculture emerge earlier in new generation of climate and crop, Nature Food, 2, pp. 873–885, https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00400-y

It provides in each 0.5° land grid cell the planting day and maturity day for 18 different crops, separating rainfed and irrigated systems.

Only a single growing season per crop and grid cell is specified, and no crop rotations are considered. However, for wheat and rice, data for a second season with separate crop calendars for winter and spring wheat, and two separate main rice growing seasons are also provided. However, the second rice season is static in time.

Model implemented in R and publicly available on github: https://github.com/AgMIP-GGCMI/cropCalendars. Specific scripts that were used to run the model and create the time series of sowing and harvest dates are stored internally at PIK.

Jägermeyr et al. 2021, Climate impacts on global agriculture emerge earlier in new generation of climate and crop, Nature Food, 2, pp. 873–885, https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00400-y

Jonas Jägermeyr, Christoph Müller, Sara Minoli, Deepak Ray, & Stefan Siebert. (2021). GGCMI Phase 3 crop calendar [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5062513

Minoli, S., Jägermeyr, J., Asseng, S. et al. Global crop yields can be lifted by timely adaptation of growing periods to climate change. Nat Commun 13, 7079 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34411-5

Update May 2026:
While the first version of the historical data (v20260212) only went back to 1991, the new version starts as early as 1881. With this update, the future data sets were recalculated, and all files were standardized to a uniform format. However, no changes to the data itself are expected. Data for crops with a static calendar have been removed; we recommend using the data from the 2015soc datasets instead.

The data can be downloaded from the ISIMIP Repository at:
https://data.isimip.org/search/tree/ISIMIP3b/InputData/socioeconomic/crop_calendar/

For ISIMIP participants, these files are also available for download from the DKRZ server using the path /work/bb0820/ISIMIP/ISIMIP3b/InputData/socioeconomic/crop_calendar/