DESSAC is being developed as an integrated suite of decision support systems to assist arable farmers and advisers with a whole range of crop husbandry decisions.

The system is designed to store and organise vast amounts of data, which can subsequently be analysed and presented to users in a uniform and meaningful way. DESSAC will be capable of analysing the consequences of farm management practices such as different spraying dates and different doses of fungicides and insecticides, or changing varieties, and report to users the likely results in terms of effectiveness, costs etc. This will allow informed choices to be made from the options presented. DESSAC has the added advantage that the latest information and research results can be made available to the farmer or advisers much more quickly.

DESSAC is designed to be an expandable system consisting of a central core to which decision support modules are added. The central core of the system contains 'common' information relevant to the whole range of crop husbandry decisions, (e.g. existing farm records, weather data and general cropping information). Each decision support module provides help on a different aspect of crop husbandry by providing analysis of the probable effects of different treatment plans. These analyses are based on the latest research by leading scientists in their field. In addition, each module also provides ' book-style' information specific to that decision.