Oil palm has become one of the most important crops in the world with questions being raised about
its
economic and environmental sustainability. Agricultural systems models are regularly employed in
studying sustainable crop management but no detailed model is currently available for oil palm
systems. We developed a production systems model for oil palm within the Agricultural Production
Systems Simulator (APSIM) framework and tested it using data across a range of environments within
Papua New Guinea (PNG). The model captured key growth responses to climate and management. This
demonstrates that modern modelling frameworks do allow for rapid model development for new
agricultural systems. However, whilst application of the model is promising, the availability of
key data is likely to restrict its use. Local soil and weather data are not available in
adequate detail for many of the major oil palm
production areas, although some methods exist to address this.