LUSE, a decision support system for exploration of rural land use allocation: Application to the Terra Chá district of Galicia (N.W. Spain)

This article describes LUSE, a system for exploration of rural land use allocations (total area devoted to each kind of use) by multiobjective linear programming methods. The objectives pursued are maximization of gross margin, employment in agriculture, land use naturalness and traditional rural landscape, and minimization of production costs and use of agrochemicals. The constraints on the areas devoted to the land uses considered in addition to those imposed by their joint and individual availabilities, are that they must reach levels considered to satisfy existing demand for those uses or their products, and that the areas devoted to maize and fodder must be sufficient for maintenance of dairy farm production. The program generates comprehensive samples of the Pareto-optimal set, and also allows interactive convergence on a solution that is satisfactory to the decision-maker or interactive exploration of the Pareto-optimal set. The system is currently parameterized for use in an area of Galicia (N.W. Spain), but is easily adaptable to other geographic locations.