Multi-objective simulation and optimisation of dairy sheep farms: Exploring trade-offs between economic and environmental outcomes

Villalba, D.; Díez-Unquera, B.; Carrascal, Alberto; Bernués, A.; Ruíz, R.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2019.01.011

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The point was the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per unit of product. Moreover, the outcomes Villalba et al [24] conducted in sheep farms in the Basque Country (Spain) are in line with this and they show a complementarity between the economic and environmental performance (nitrogen excretion). This would mean that economic and environmental objectives could be reconciled.…”

Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 62%

The Objectives of Farm Operations—Evidence from a Region in Poland

Grzelak

2020

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objectives set by agricultural producers directly translate into the directions of the development of farms. What is particularly important: Is there a conflict between the economic and environmental objectives of farm operations? This issue is not resolved in the literature on the subject and still is a challenge for policymakers. The main aim of the article is to identify the preferences of farm managers concerning the objectives of farm operations, as well as to examine their mutual relations. The article employs the results of surveys carried out on farms from the Wielkopolska region (Poland). The analysis of Spearman’s rank, cluster analysis, also the classification tree method, and multidimensional scaling were applied. The research shows that the relations between the income and assets objective turned out to be moderate in terms of strength, while the environmental objective turned out to be statistically insignificant related to economic objectives (in the context of their perception by respondents). There are differences in this respect, including also a group of the respondents in which income and environmental objectives have been ranked simultaneously high. It is, however, difficult to state clearly whether there is a complementarity between the income and the environmental objective from the perspective of perception by respondents. Although when the context of the real action is taken into account then the answer should be positive. Therefore, there is a gap between the farmers’ perception of reality—choice of the hierarchy of objectives, and the real activities, e.g., in terms of pro-environmental activities. It is a new issue that points to the need to stimulate the environmental objective, in particular, through support at the level of agricultural policy instruments.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 62%

The Objectives of Farm Operations—Evidence from a Region in Poland

Grzelak

2020

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To the best of our knowledge, only PASTOR-DSS, a decision support system for dairy sheep farming, allows for bio-economic simulations. However, since simulations rely on an individual animal models, its use is impaired by the large number of required input animal parameters [ 22 ]. Although iSAGEDSS takes into account all important farm aspects, great effort was put into limiting the number of input variables to those absolutely required and, therefore, the time investment for the farmer; the input data form can be completed in approximately 30 min and the report is generated in seconds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the farm animal industry, emphasis has been placed on assisting dairy cow farmers in decision-making through predictive modeling for animal production and financial performance [ 11 , 12 ]. Regarding small ruminant farm management, there are some available tools that aim to help sheep and goat farmers towards decision-making [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. However, most of the current solutions do not offer a holistic management approach that takes into account all important farm parameters [ 14 , 18 , 21 ] or they require a great amount of effort for data input via non-user-friendly (complex and/or poorly structured) interfaces [ 13 , 15 , 16 , 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Decision Support System for Economically Sustainable Sheep and Goat Farming

Vouraki

Skourtis²,

Psichos³

et al. 2020

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European sheep and goat sector is characterized by low professionalization and management training. Moreover, it is fragmented in terms of production aims and farming systems. Here, iSAGEDSS, a web-based application allowing dairy and meat small ruminant farmers in different countries to make annual management plans by testing future scenarios, is presented. Data were obtained for the meat sheep (United Kingdom and Spain), dairy sheep (France and Greece) and dairy goat production systems (Greece) from partners of the Innovation for Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in Europe (iSAGE) project. These were used to set default values and ranges for all important farm parameters in each system and country. An algorithm was developed assessing nutritional management and its impact on production and financial performance. Reports focus on profitability, productivity and environmental sustainability. A case study in three dairy sheep farms in Greece was performed. In each case, an evaluation scenario was created using actual farm data that were compared with the estimated ones. Two scenarios testing management decisions for gross margin maximization and milk pricing fluctuations were created. Application results showed high prediction accuracy for gross margin and production estimation (error of circa 9% and 4%, respectively). Moreover, the ability to promote financial, production and grazing management efficiency was demonstrated.

show abstract

“…Mathematical optimization models can be used for decision-making for different types of livestock, as shown by the case of Rodríguez-Sánchez et al (2012) who used LP for complex modeling of sow farms. Moreover, Villalba et al (2019) recently developed an optimization model for dairy sheep farms using a multi-objective approach and stochastic simulation. Another multiobjective approach based on mathematical optimization was presented by Groot et al (2012) who aimed not only to maximize profit, which is the usual subject of optimization, but also to design farm configurations with respect to organic matter balance, labor requirements, and soil nitrogen loss.…”

Section: Mathematical Programming In Agribusinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the decision‐making in small‐scale beef cattle herd management through a mathematical programming model

Hlavatý

Krejčí

Houška

et al. 2021

Int Trans Operational Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We address the issue of managing beef herds from the perspective of small‐scale farmers and propose an optimization model applicable to the conditions of the Czech Republic. Our research focused on optimization under existing system conditions with established procedures. We present a linear programming model of beef herd development over a 10‐year period that considers the limited capacity of small‐scale farms. The key decision‐making variables represent the acquisition of heifers and the selection of heifers for fattening and breeding. For 102 selected scenarios, we demonstrate the impact of proper heifer acquisition and farmers’ profit sensitivity on the key parameters. For the key parameters, we identify thresholds that determine the sustainability of small‐scale Czech beef farms. The proposed model demonstrates the crucial impact of subsidies on the profitability of beef farms. A 24% decrease in subsidies is shown to be the threshold at which a farmer's optimal strategy is to leave the market.

show abstract

Multi-objective simulation and optimisation of dairy sheep farms: Exploring trade-offs between economic and environmental outcomes

Abstract: Està subjecte a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-SenseObraDerivada 3.0 de Creative Commons Multi-objective simulation and optimisation of dairy sheep farms: Exploring trade-offs between economic and environmental outcomes

Cited by 21 publications

References 20 publications

The Objectives of Farm Operations—Evidence from a Region in Poland

The Objectives of Farm Operations—Evidence from a Region in Poland

A Decision Support System for Economically Sustainable Sheep and Goat Farming

Understanding the decision‐making in small‐scale beef cattle herd management through a mathematical programming model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About