Farm-Level Modeling for Bigger Issues

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how farm-level modelers can best extend their research to address issues broader than just farm income. The paper describes how tradeoff curves are a valuable tool for summarizing the missing information to policy makers on economic problems related to sustainability issues and agriculture. We outline steps an economic researcher could follow in developing an integrated farm-level model that successfully links changes in environmental quality with agricultural practices so that the relevant trade-offs for policy analysis can be quantified.A gricultural production economists have been trained to evaluate the optimal means by which scarce resources should be used to achieve desired objectives at the farm level. The techniques for determining optimal input use and output supply have often involved modeling behavioral and technical relationships at the farm level. The modeling of these relationships for the firm has resulted in improved information for producers and extension agents and consequently resulted in higher returns to the agricultural sector (at least for early adopters). The emphasis in farm-level modeling in the past has generally been on improving individual profitability with some concern directed toward the impacts and efficiency of agricultural support programs. However, these modeling efforts are increasingly being used to assess larger policy issues, particularly with regard to the relationship between agricultural production systems and sustainability.Sustainability has been measured through broad, agri-environmental indicators, such as those recently developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These include items such as soil quality, biodiversity, farm financial resources, and rural sociocultural issues (Organization

Farming system design to feed the changing world. A review

“…The first category contains the optimisationoriented approaches. As with Simon's theory (1969), design is mainly seen as a problem-solving process (Weersink et al 2002). Emphasis is placed on the computational exploration of the solution space by a problem-solving algorithm.…”

“…Whereas the outputs (in the form of knowledge embodied in peer-reviewed articles, software or datasets) of a design project are easily traceable, the outcomes (changes in values, attitudes and behaviour in the world beyond the walls of the research institute; Matthews et al 2011) are seldom analysed (Pacini et al 2004a, b), partly because of the limited literature for their formal evaluation (Weersink et al 2002). Yet design is an applied activity and the support of social scientists is required to evaluate, and if necessary improve, the extent to which farming system design processes affect the intended users of their products, and whether or not these products are made use of.…”

An Indicator-Based Framework to Evaluate Sustainability of Farming Systems: Review of Applications in Tuscany

“…Agro-environmental indicators can be calculated, simulated with models or directly measured with different levels of detail, proportionally to the aims of the evaluation exercise. Given the above-mentioned layout of the system based on ecological concepts, the procedural steps to apply the framework are reported in Figure 2, so as they were modified from Weersink et al (2002), and explained in the following sections.…”

“…Some focus on environmental impact (see, for an example, the critical review of 12 indicatorbased methods reported by Van der Werf and Petit, 2002), others hold a stronger holistic component and consider socio-economic aspects as well. Examples of frameworks of the latter type broadly applied in the agricultural sector are the International Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management (FESLM, Smith and Dumanski, 1994), the framework of the Research Network on Integrated and Ecological Arable Farming Systems for EU and Associated Countries (Vereijken, 1999), the Checklist for Sustainable Landscape Management (Van Mansvelt and Van der Lubbe, 1999), the Problem-Solving Framework for Modelling Sustainability Issues (Weersink et al, 2002) and the Framework for Assessing the Sustainability of Natural Resource Management Systems (MES-MIS, López-Ridaura et al, 2002).…”

“…The strength of the framework of Weersink et al (2002) lies in the fact that it is effectively problem-oriented and gives a comprehensive picture of possible modelling approaches, including multiple objectives/indicators, different analysis units and risk. On the other hand a procedure of identification of objectives, criteria and indicators is not given by the Weersink framework.…”