Linear programming as an aid to decision-making for investments in farm equipment for arable farms

Linear programming is used to guide choice in farm equipment investments for agricultural enterprises. ‘GEDE’ is an example of linear programming (LP) software run on microcomputer: an LP solver is included. It calculates the optimal crop layout, the farm profit and the requirement in labour force, machinery and land resources. The model considers an actual arable farm; it allows study of the effects of changing the farm resources. The user only has to supply data not structure. Data are obtained from actual farms, such as labour and machinery resources, farm area, field operations and gross margin of each crop. ‘GEDE’ has been designed for use primarily by advisors. An example is given to illustrate this use for an arable farm in France; it can be also used to evaluate the commercial viability of new machines.