ACCESS - Agro-climatic change and European soil suitability
The European Commission, DG XII, has published a booklet outlining the results of the ACCESS (Agro-climatic change and European soil suitability) project, conducted under the specific RTD programme in the field of Environment (1990-1994) of the Third RTD Framework Programme. The ACCESS project is based on a robust method for calculating the soil-crop-water relationship, which is central to any attempt to assess the suitability of land for agricultural uses. ACCESS has produced a model which uses available information on soil, land-use and climate to predict the effects of climate change on land-use potential within Europe. The ACCESS system runs at two levels: ACCESS I which extrapolates data for large areas of land; and ACCESS II for detailed validation and calibration in smaller areas.