Searching alternative productive plans in farm planning. From linear programming to nearly optimal programming

In this paper authors try to test the Nearly Optimal Linear Programming (NOLP) methodology applying the Hop Skip Jump Method (HSJM). This procedure returns a set of sub-optimal farm productive plans which can integrate indications from Linear Programming in farm management, so that it is possible to choose the one which is more acceptable for the farmer, taking some non-expressed objectives into consideration. After a theoretical methodological introduction, NOLP-HSJM was applied to a big farm located in the Umbria Region. From that application, 8 different sub-optimal and optimal productive plans were obtained, from which the farmer can choose the one most suitable to his needs.