RuFaS is an open-source, next-generation, whole-farm modeling environment that simulates dairy farm production and environmental impact. It is designed to support research, innovation, and sustainable decision-making in ruminant animal agriculture.
To support research and sustainable decision-making in ruminant animal production through a state-of-the-art, open-source modeling environment that evolves with scientific and technological advances.
To build an integrated, whole-farm modeling platform that simulates:
- Milk, meat, and crop production
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Water quality impacts
- Soil health
- Other sustainability outcomes
We aim for the highest standards in:
- Prediction accuracy
- Code structure and clarity
- Documentation and accessibility
RuFaS is grounded in peer-reviewed science and collaborative development. It is maintained by a diverse community of researchers, developers, and stakeholders committed to transparency, reproducibility, and continuous improvement.
- Install Python 3.12 or 3.13 - Make sure you have one of these versions installed on your system.
- Set up a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate on Mac/Linux or venv\Scripts\activate on Windows- Install dependencies
pip install .- Enable output display - Navigate to
output/output_filters/and rename_csv_all_variables.txt→csv_all_variables.txt(remove the leading underscore). - Run RuFaS
python main.py- Learn more if you have further questions read through the documentation on our GitHub Pages site
RuFaS welcomes coding and noncoding contributions from individuals demonstrating interest and commitment to our program standards. You can:
- 🧪 Test features and report bugs
- 💡 Suggest new features or improvements
- 🗣️ Engage in scientific discussions and peer reviews
- 💻 Submit code, documentation, or scientific literature
- 🧰 Help with user support and onboarding
- 🎨 Design user interfaces or visual assets
- 📣 Promote RuFaS within your networks
Please see the
code of conduct and CONTRIBUTING.md for full details.
For prerequisites and testing read the PREREQUISITES and End-to-End Testing files.
RuFaS is licensed under GPLv3. See the COPYING.md and COPYING.LESSER.md files for details.
For questions, sponsorship inquiries, or collaboration proposals, please email contact@rufas.org.
Thanks to all the individuals and organizations that contributed to RuFaS development and maintenance in the past and continue to contribute today. Contributions to the RuFaS GitHub repository are recorded here.