Energy crop evaluation by linear programming

It is demonstrated how mathematical modelling can be used to evaluate energy crops and to determine optimal production scenarios. A generalized linear programming model is presented which can be used to optimize agricultural production systems by evaluating the time-varying competition between crops...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy in agriculture 1984, Vol.3, p.199-210
Main Authors: Bender, D.A., Peart, R.M., Doster, D.H., Barrett, J.R., Bagby, M.O.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:It is demonstrated how mathematical modelling can be used to evaluate energy crops and to determine optimal production scenarios. A generalized linear programming model is presented which can be used to optimize agricultural production systems by evaluating the time-varying competition between crops for land, labor and machinery. The linear programming model uses a multi-stage structure to force activities such as land preparation, planting and harvesting to occur in the proper sequence. In addition, crop yield reductions for untimely field operations are considered. The model schedules activities and determines the amounts of each crop which maximize profits according to price, time and resource constraints. Also, shadow prices are given for each scarce resource. Shadow prices represent the value of an additional unit of a resource. Shadow prices are effective in identifying critical constraints (i.e. bottlenecks) at various production stages. A case study, based on actual field data, is included to provide an illustration of the analysis procedure.
ISSN:0167-5826
DOI:10.1016/0167-5826(84)90022-6