The application of operations research in the optimization of agricultural production

This paper describes a project to develop on optimal production plan for crops and livestock in Chang Qing County, People’s Republic of China. The production plan was to increase net profit without adverse effects on the environment. The authors set up four large-scale linear programming models, each having more than 3,000 variables and 100 constraints, for different weather conditions and combinations of crops and livestock production. They obtained optimal solutions using computers. The authors used game theory to work out an optimal plan least sensitive to weather variations. They used sensitivity analysis to obtain the information for production planning as a function of market prices. The project took 1 year; 20 people were involved. More than 3 million data items were used in the development of the models. The optimal production plan involved a 2-year cycle that began in September 1983. By September 1985, the net profit from crops in the county increased by 12.33% and that from livestock by 53.77%. This success opened up the study of production planning and control of the macroscopic economy in agriculture in China. Optimal production plans are being developed and improved in many parts of China.