Abstract Circadian rhythms play critical roles in plant physiology, growth, development and survival, and their inclusion in crop growth models is essential for high-fidelity results, especially when considering climate change. Commonly used circadian clock models are often inflexible or result in complex outputs, limiting their use in general simulations. Here we present a new circadian clock model based on mathematical oscillators that easily adapts to different environmental conditions and produces intuitive outputs. We then demonstrate its utility as an input to Glycine max development models. This oscillator clock model has the power to simplify the inclusion of circadian cycles and photoperiodic effects in crop growth models and to unify experimental data from field and controlled environment observations.