Daniel Wallach

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Daniel Wallach
File:Daniel_Brisbane_11-06.jpg File:Daniel_Brisbane_11-06.jpg David Wallach, 2024
Born	(1942-12-04) 4 December 1942 Toronto, Canada
💼 Occupation	Emeritus Professor at INRES, University of Bonn

Daniel Wallach (born December, 4th 1942 in Toronto, Canada) is a US scientist recognized for his contributions to application of statistical methods to soil-crop models with a focus on agricultural systems.. His research integrates statistical methodologies with process-based models to enhance model accuracy and application. Prof. Daniel Wallach's work addresses sustainability and evaluates the impacts of climate change on crop production, food security, and resource conservation.

Education and Academic Career

Wallach completed his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1963, being awarded Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi keys. He earned his Master of Science in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1965, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics in 1968. His doctoral research, conducted at Stanford University under John D. Baldeschwieler, focused on the study of molecular and internal rotation in liquids using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

After two postdoctoral appointments, he became interested in the new field of mathematical modeling of plant growth using process-based equations, which evolved into crop simulation modeling. At the start of this new career, he was a lecturer in the Botany Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked on the use of mathematical models as an aid in determining thresholds for treatment against insect pests of cotton. In 1981, Wallach moved to France to work with INRA (now INRAe, National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment). Over three decades, he advanced from contract researcher in the Biometry Department to Research Director First Class in the Environment and Agriculture Department. From 1996 to 2003 he was director of the Toulouse agronomy laboratory, where he oversaw its transformation from a purely INRA laboratory to a mixed structure with ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agriculture de Toulouse). In 2003 he proposed and obtained funding for modelia, a modeling consortium linking several INRAe departments and most of the French agricultural technical institutes, which he co-led until retirement.

As a researcher in the Biometry Department he realized that the language and the methods of statistics are essential to crop models, which should be treated as empirical regression models, even though based on an understanding of physical and biological processes. He taught himself statistical theory and practice, and proceeded to apply them to crop models. This led to over 100 peer-reviewed papers, in particular on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, model calibration and model evaluation applied to crop models. During this period Wallach co-wrote the first book devoted to statistical methods for crop models, which has gone through three editions. Wallach is on the editorial boards of the European Journal off agronomy and Agricultural and Forest Meteorology and has been guest editor of two special issues on calibration and uncertainty analysis.

Wallach retired from INRAe in 2011, but much of his scientific career took place after official retirement. He taught classes on methods of modeling as a guest professor at Nanjing Agricultural University from 2015 to 2020, as a visiting scientist in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Florida from 2011 to 2019, and as a Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn from 2022 to 2025. He has been principal lecturer in several international short courses

Contributions to the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)

Wallach was an inaugural member of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) and continues to serve as an active member. AgMIP is a global collaboration of multidisciplinary scientists aiming to significantly improve agricultural models, and scientific and technological capabilities, for assessing impacts of climate variability and change and other driving forces on agriculture, food security, and poverty at local to global scales. Wallach identified model calibration as arguably the main obstacle to more effective and reliable use of crop models and therefore initiated the AgMIP calibration project in 2016, of which he is a co-leader. This group has documented the large diversity in current calibration methods and is developing a comprehensive, generic, statistics based protocol for crop model calibration.

Selected Publications

Books

• Wallach, D.; Makowski, D.; Jones, J.W.; Brun, F. (2019). Working with Dynamic Crop Models: Methods, Tools and Examples for Agriculture and Environment (Third ed.). London, U.K.: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-811756-9. Search this book on

Articles

• Wallach, D. (1967). "Effect of internal rotation on angular correlation functions". J. Chem. Phys. 47 (12): 5258. Bibcode:1967JChPh..47.5258W. doi:10.1063/1.1701790.
• Asseng, S.; Ewert, F.; Martre, P.; Rötter, R.P.; Lobell, D.B.; Cammarano, D.; Kimball, B.A.; Ottman, M.J.; Wall, G.W.; White, J.W.; Reynolds, M.P.; Alderman, P.D.; Prasad, P.V.V.; Aggarwal, P.K.; Anothai, J.; Basso, B.; Biernath, C.; Challinor, A.J.; De Sanctis, G.; Doltra, J.; Fereres, E.; Garcia-Vila, M.; Gayler, S.; Hoogenboom, G.; Hunt, L.A.; Izaurralde, R.C.; Jabloun, M.; Jones, C.D.; Kersebaum, K.C.; Koehler, A.-K.; Müller, C.; Naresh Kumar, S.; Nendel, C.; O'Leary, G.; Olesen, J.E.; Palosuo, T.; Priesack, E.; Eyshi Rezaei, E.; Ruane, A.C.; Semenov, M.A.; Shcherbak, I.; Stöckle, C.; Stratonovitch, P.; Streck, T.; Supit, I.; Tao, F.; Thorburn, P.J.; Waha, K.; Wang, E.; Wallach, D.; Wolf, J.; Zhao, Z.; Zhu, Y. (2015). "Rising temperatures reduce global wheat production". Nat. Clim. Chang. 5 (2): 143–147. Bibcode:2015NatCC...5..143A. doi:10.1038/nclimate2470.
• Rosenzweig, C.; Jones, J.W.; Hatfield, J.L.; Ruane, A.C.; Boote, K.J.; Thorburn, P.; Antle, J.M.; Nelson, G.C.; Porter, C.; Janssen, S.; Asseng, S.; Basso, B.; Ewert, F.; Wallach, D.; Baigorria, G.; Winter, J.M. (2013). "The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP): Protocols and pilot studies". Agric. For. Meteorol. 170: 166–182. Bibcode:2013AgFM..170..166R. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2012.09.011. hdl:2060/20150002678.
• Wallach, D. (2011). "Crop model calibration: A statistical perspective". Agron. J. 103 (4): 1144–1151. Bibcode:2011AgrJ..103.1144W. doi:10.2134/agronj2010.0432.
• Wallach, D.; Palosuo, T.; Thorburn, P.; Hochman, Z.; Gourdain, E.; Andrianasolo, F.; Asseng, S.; Basso, B.; Buis, S.; Crout, N.; Dibari, C.; Dumont, B.; Ferrise, R.; Gaiser, T.; Garcia, C.; Gayler, S.; Ghahramani, A.; Hiremath, S.; Hoek, S.; Horan, H.; Hoogenboom, G.; Huang, M.; Jabloun, M.; Jansson, P.-E.; Jing, Q.; Justes, E.; Kersebaum, K.C.; Klosterhalfen, A.; Launay, M.; Lewan, E.; Luo, Q.; Maestrini, B.; Mielenz, H.; Moriondo, M.; Nariman Zadeh, H.; Padovan, G.; Olesen, J.E.; Poyda, A.; Priesack, E.; Pullens, J.W.M.; Qian, B.; Schütze, N.; Shelia, V.; Souissi, A.; Specka, X.; Srivastava, A.K.; Stella, T.; Streck, T.; Trombi, G.; Wallor, E.; Wang, J.; Weber, T.K.D.; Weihermüller, L.; de Wit, A.; Wöhling, T.; Xiao, L.; Zhao, C.; Zhu, Y.; Seidel, S.J. (2021). "The chaos in calibrating crop models: Lessons learned from a multi-model calibration exercise". Environ. Model. Softw. 145. Bibcode:2021EnvMS.14505206W. doi:10.1016/J.ENVSOFT.2021.105206.
• Wallach, D.; Martre, P.; Liu, B.; Asseng, S.; Ewert, F.; Thorburn, P.J.; Ittersum, M.; Aggarwal, P.K.; Ahmed, M. (2018). "Multimodel ensembles improve predictions of crop–environment–management interactions" (PDF). Glob. Chang. Biol. 24 (11): 5072–5083. Bibcode:2018GCBio..24.5072W. doi:10.1111/gcb.14411. PMID 30055118.
• Wallach, D.; Palosuo, T.; Thorburn, P.; Mielenz, H.; Buis, S. (2023). "Proposal and extensive test of a calibration protocol for crop phenology models". Agron. Sustain. Dev. 43 (4): 46. Bibcode:2023AgSD...43...46W. doi:10.1007/s13593-023-00900-0.
• Wallach, D.; Buis, S.; Seserman, D.-M.; Palosuo, T.; Thorburn, P.J.; Mielenz, H.; Justes, E.; Kersebaum, K.-C.; Dumont, B.; Launay, M.; Seidel, S.J. (2024). "A calibration protocol for soil-crop models". Environ. Model. Softw. 180. Bibcode:2024EnvMS.18006147W. doi:10.1016/J.ENVSOFT.2024.106147.
• Wang, B.; Jägermeyr, J.; O'Leary, G.J.; Wallach, D.; Ruane, A.C.; Feng, P. (2024). "Pathways to identify and reduce uncertainties in agricultural climate impact assessments". Nat. Food. 5 (7): 550–556. doi:10.1038/s43016-024-01014-w. PMID 39009735 .
• Wallach, D.; Mearns, L.O.; Ruane, A.C.; Rötter, R.P.; Asseng, S (2016). "Lessons from climate modeling on the design and use of ensembles for crop modeling". Clim. Change. 139 (3–4): 551–564. Bibcode:2016ClCh..139..551W. doi:10.1007/s10584-016-1803-1. PMC 7175712 . PMID 32355375 .
• Wallach, D.; Goffinet, B. (1989). "Mean squared error of prediction as a criterion for evaluating and comparing system models". Ecol. Modell. 44 (3–4): 299–306. Bibcode:1989EcMod..44..299W. doi:10.1016/0304-3800(89)90035-5.

External links

• AgMIP

• Profile at Bonn University

References

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