Opening the Doors: RuFaS Steps Into the World

Four years ago, when I joined the RuFaS project, I stepped into the challenge of transforming complex scientific models into practical, maintainable software. My work has included writing and reviewing code, designing architecture, mentoring developers, translating research into technical plans, and continuously balancing the tension between immediate project needs and long-term sustainability.

Over these years, our team has built RuFaS into a comprehensive whole-farm simulation model. It captures daily dynamics in animal production, manure management, crop growth, feed storage changes, economic performance, and greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve debated algorithms, restructured codebases, tested assumptions, and kept adapting to the evolving landscape of sustainability science.

This week at ADSA 2025, we opened the RuFaS repository to the public for the first time. It was a significant moment, signaling not only the release of software but a transition toward a more open, collaborative future for agricultural modeling.

For me, making RuFaS public is about more than code. It’s about scientific integrity and the belief that models influencing real-world decisions; whether in policy, sustainability metrics, or farm management; must be transparent and available for critique. No one model can answer all questions, and we need many eyes, many perspectives, and many critiques to refine the work further.

In many ways, building RuFaS has felt like raising a child. Watching the model grow from early sketches to a working system has been incredibly rewarding. Making it public now feels a bit like sending a child off to school: it’s exciting, a little scary, and full of hope that others will help it learn, grow, and thrive. There’s pride in seeing how far it has come, and humility in knowing it will need support, guidance, and feedback from the broader community to truly reach its potential.

Of course, opening the repository means exposing our incomplete pieces: parts of the code that need polishing, sections still undocumented, and inevitable bugs waiting to be found. But this openness is what will ultimately make RuFaS stronger.

The road ahead includes:

• Improving user guides and examples so that new users can deploy the model confidently.
• Extending the validation of RuFaS across more diverse climates, production systems, and management practices.
• Optimizing performance to support larger and more complex simulations.
• Welcoming contributions from researchers, developers, and practitioners worldwide who bring new ideas and solutions we might not have imagined.

Looking back, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. Looking forward, I’m aware that the road is still long. My hope is that this public release will bring new energy, scrutiny, and collaboration, helping RuFaS become a tool not just for our own team, but for the broader scientific and agricultural community.

If you’re curious; or critical; I invite you to look at the code, read the documentation, and connect with us. Your insights and questions are valuable as we keep building and improving.

Link to the RuFaS repo: https://github.com/RuminantFarmSystems/RuFaS

Link to RuFaS Documentation: https://ruminantfarmsystems.github.io/RuFaS/