Multistage stochastic programming modeling for farmland irrigation management under uncertainty

Farmland management and irrigation scheduling are vital to a productive agricultural economy. A multistage stochastic programming model is proposed to maximize farmers’ annual profit under uncertainty. The uncertainties considered include crop prices, irrigation water availability, and precipitation. During the first stage, pre-season decisions including seed type and plant density are made, while determinations of when to irrigate and how much water to be used for each irrigation are made in the later stages. The presented case study, based on a farm in Nebraska, U.S.A., showed that a 10% profit increase could be achieved by taking the corn price and irrigation water availability uncertainties into consideration using two-stage stochastic programming. An additional 13% profit increase could be achieved by taking precipitation uncertainty into consideration using multistage stochastic programming. The stochastic model outperforms the deterministic model, especially when there are limited water supplies. These results indicate that multistage stochastic programming is a promising method for farm-scale irrigation management and can increase farm profitability

A stochastic dynamic programming approach to analyze adaptation to climate change - application to groundwater irrigation in India

Agricultural sustainability under climate change is a major challenge in semi-arid countries, mainly because of over-exploited water resources. This article explores short- and long-term consequences of farmers’ adaptation decisions on groundwater resource use, under several climate change scenarios. We model farmer decisions on crop choice, investment in irrigation and water application rates, using a stochastic dynamic programming model with embedded year and season decision stages. Several sources of risk are considered that may impact farmer decisions, with poor rainfall affecting crop yield and market prices, while driving crop and borewell failure probabilities. We further investigate the performance of water management policies for groundwater resource conservation. This is achieved through policy simulations from a calibrated version of the stochastic dynamic model, using data from a field survey in the Berambadi watershed, Karnataka state, southern India. The most relevant and novel aspect of our model is the joint consideration of i) investment decisions about irrigation over a long-term horizon and with the probability of borewell failure, ii) several water management policies, iii) detailed farmers’ water practices and the representation of crop choice for each agricultural season with crop failure

Route optimization in agricultural land treatment

Predmet istraţivanja doktorske disertacije je tretiranje poljoprivrednog zemljišta, odnosno kreiranje i izbor efikasnih ruta. Pregledom literature uoĉeno je da su u oblasti poljoprivrede rešavani razliĉiti lokacijski problemi, problemi alokacije i rutiranja. Znaĉajnu ulogu u odgovornom planiranju korišćenja poljoprivrednih resursa ima i prepoznavanje i rešavanje raznih optimizacionih problema koji se javljaju u procesu eksploatacije, o ĉemu svedoĉi i veliki broj istraţivanja koja se bave primenom metoda operacionih istraţivanja u ovoj oblasti. Problem koji se rešava se sastoji od izvršenja jedne vrste operacije na isparcelisanom poljoprivrednom zemljištu koje je potrebno tretirati korišćenjem avijacije. Karakteristike problema su: zemljište je isparcelisano i takve je površine da ga je nemoguće obraditi jednim preletom aviona; postoji nehomogena flota aviona i više potencijalnih letelišta koja se mogu koristiti za uzletanje i sletanje aviona; jednim preletom je moguće obraditi više parcela u zavisnosti od kapaciteta aviona. Prouĉavani problem se sastoji u odreĊivanju optimalnih ruta za dati broj aviona koji se koriste za tretiranje isparcelisanog poljoprivrednog zemljišta hemikalijama. Ovaj NP (Nondeterministic Polynomial) teţak problem je prikazan na grafu i predstavlja specijalnu varijantu roblema rutiranja vozila (The Vehicle Routing Problem - VRP) sa više depoa gde se generiše transportni plan za homogeni proizvod (hemikalije korišćene za tretiranje zemljišta) sa razliĉitih lokacija ponude (letelišta) do razliĉitih lokacija potraţnje (parcele) uz minimalne troškove. Da bi se jedno zemljište, podeljeno na parcele, efikasno tretiralo uz pomoć avijacije, potrebno je: izabrati letelišta koja će se koristiti za uzletanje i sletanje i odrediti alokaciju parcela letelištima, odrediti naĉin preleta svake parcele (obrada parcele, tj. izvršenje operacije nad parcelom) i redosled tretiranja parcela. Deo rešenja problema je i odreĊivanje broja potrebnih aviona, kao i struktura same flote. Kompleksnost problema i primeri većih dimenzija uslovili su formulisanje specijalne heuristike za rešavanje opisanog problema. Heuristikom su rešeni primeri većih dimenzija. Primenom razvijene specijalne heuristike dobijaju se planovi obrade - odnosno skup ruta kojima će poljoprivredni avion obraditi sve parcele na jednom poljoprivrednom zemljištu. Metoda obavijanja podataka (Data Envelopment Analysis – DEA) primenjena je za poreĊenje više planova obrade istog problema (dobijenih primenom heuristike) i odreĊivanje relativno efikasnih planova, a u okviru jednog efikasnog plana obrade primenom DEA metode su odreĊene relativno efikasne rute. U oba sluĉaja primenjen je CCR DEA izlazno orijentisani model. Predloţeni pristupi su testirani na primerima razliĉitih dimenzija i pokazalo se da se primenom DEA metode moţe oceniti efikasnost i izabrati planovi obrade i rute koje će se koristiti za tretiranje poljoprivrednog zemljišta.The subject of this research is the agricultural land treatment, i.e. determination and selection of efficient routes in the treatment of agricultural land. The review of available literature proved that in the field of agriculture, different location problems, problems of allocation and routing are being solved. Identification and solving various optimization problems that arise in the treatment of the agricultural land have an important role in responsible planning of agricultural resources and its usage, which is confirmed in large number of studies that deal with the application of operational research methods in this field. The problem that is solved consists of performing one type of operation on a parceled agricultural land using agricultural aviation. The characteristics of the problem are: the land is divided into parcels; the surface of the whole land can not be processed by a single plane overflight; a non-homogeneous fleet of aircraft is used; there exists several potential airfields that can be used as landing sites; processing of several parcels can be done with one overflight (depending on the capacity of the aircraft). The studied problem consists of determining the optimal routes for a given set of aircraft used for chemical treatment of arable agricultural land divided into parcels. This NP (Nondeterministic Polynomial) problem is represented on a graph and represents a specific variant of the multidepot vehicle routing problem (VRP) where a min-cost plan for the transportation of a homogeneous product (chemicals used for land treatment) from different supply locations (airfields) to different demand locations (agricultural parcels) should be generated. In order to effectively treat an agricultural land divided into parcels using agricultural aviation, it is necessary to: choose the airfields for take-offs and to determine the parcel allocation to the airfields, determine the treatment way for each parcel and sequence of parcel treatment. Part of the solution of the problem is to determine the number of required aircrafts, as well as the structure of the fleet itself. The complexity of the problem and large dimensions of the problem examples have led to the formulation of a special heuristics. These examples of larger dimensions are solved using formulated heuristics. The application of the special heuristics results in processing plans - that is, a set of routes the agricultural aircraft will take and process all the parcels on one agricultural land. DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method is applied to compare multiple processing plans (obtained using heuristics) and to determine relatively efficient plans. Relatively efficient routes are determined within one efficient processing plan, also by using DEA method. In both cases, an output-oriented DEA model is applied. The proposed approaches are tested on examples of different dimensions and it is shown that, by applying the DEA method, the efficiency and selection of cultivation plans and routes that will be used for the treatment of agricultural land can be evaluated

Global and International Logistics

This book contains 10 reviewed papers published as a Special Issue “Global and International Logistics” in the journal Sustainability, edited by Prof. Dr. Ryuichi Shibasaki, Prof. Dr. Daisuke Watanabe, and Dr. Tomoya Kawasaki. The topics of the papers contain the impact of logistics development under the China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) by using the improved gravity model, strategies against barriers to the BRI from a logistics and supply chain management perspective, the dynamic interaction between international logistics, and cross-border e-commerce trade, the effect of China’s restrictive programs on the international trade of waste products, the empty container repositioning problem of shipping companies with foldable containers, port capacity and connectivity improvement in the hub and feeder network in Indonesia, GHG emission scenarios for the maritime shipping sector using system dynamics, incorporating a shipping and shipbuilding market model, the emission inventory and bunker consumption from a LNG fleet from an automatic identification system database, the factors that can help select between land transport and maritime shipping in long-distance inter-regional cross-border transport, and container transport simulations in Myanmar with the global logistics intermodal network assignment model including both maritime shipping and land transport in the land-based Southeast Asia region. Some papers are related to the 8th International Conference on Transportation and Logistics (T-LOG 2020) which was held online on 6–7 September 2020 hosted by Universitas Internasional Semen Indonesia

L'eau en milieu agricole

L’eau est un enjeu majeur dans de nombreuses régions du monde du fait de besoins en forte croissance, mais aussi de la rareté et de la dégradation des ressources disponibles. L’agriculture étant le premier usager de la ressource en eau, la durabilité de la gestion de l’eau en milieu rural est cruciale. Elle nécessite de dépasser les approches sectorielles, encore largement en cours malgré divers courants appelant à une gestion intégrée, territoriale ou adaptative de la ressource. Prenant acte que la mise en œuvre des concepts proposés par ces différents courants est rarement effective et qu’il est plus pragmatique de rechercher la meilleure coordination possible entre les parties prenantes de la gestion de l’eau, cet ouvrage collectif analyse les enjeux, outils et démarches permettant de faciliter et d’accompagner cette coordination. En effet, une coordination effective et acceptée nécessite des méthodes et outils pour informer sur l’état de la ressource et des usages, rendre visible l’importance des enjeux, évaluer les effets et les expliquer, structurer les échanges, et élaborer et discuter des actions de gestion. L’ouvrage aborde la gestion de l’eau en milieu rural en termes d’objectifs et de démarche, puis fait un panorama large des outils, des méthodes et des données actuellement disponibles. Enfin, il décrit des exemples de mises en œuvre dans différents cas d’étude. Cet ouvrage de synthèse s’adresse à un public large allant des chercheurs, étudiants et enseignants en gestion de l’eau aux professionnels concernés par sa mise en œuvre

L'eau en milieu agricole

L’eau est un enjeu majeur dans de nombreuses régions du monde du fait de besoins en forte croissance, mais aussi de la rareté et de la dégradation des ressources disponibles. L’agriculture étant le premier usager de la ressource en eau, la durabilité de la gestion de l’eau en milieu rural est cruciale. Elle nécessite de dépasser les approches sectorielles, encore largement en cours malgré divers courants appelant à une gestion intégrée, territoriale ou adaptative de la ressource. Prenant acte que la mise en œuvre des concepts proposés par ces différents courants est rarement effective et qu’il est plus pragmatique de rechercher la meilleure coordination possible entre les parties prenantes de la gestion de l’eau, cet ouvrage collectif analyse les enjeux, outils et démarches permettant de faciliter et d’accompagner cette coordination. En effet, une coordination effective et acceptée nécessite des méthodes et outils pour informer sur l’état de la ressource et des usages, rendre visible l’importance des enjeux, évaluer les effets et les expliquer, structurer les échanges, et élaborer et discuter des actions de gestion. L’ouvrage aborde la gestion de l’eau en milieu rural en termes d’objectifs et de démarche, puis fait un panorama large des outils, des méthodes et des données actuellement disponibles. Enfin, il décrit des exemples de mises en œuvre dans différents cas d’étude. Cet ouvrage de synthèse s’adresse à un public large allant des chercheurs, étudiants et enseignants en gestion de l’eau aux professionnels concernés par sa mise en œuvre