Study of mathematical models for the organic family farming production planning

• Grant number: 22/08361-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Operational Research
• Principal Investigator: Marina Andretta
• Grantee: Sabrina Teodoro Alberto da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07375-0 - CeMEAI - Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The small family farmer, in particular those dedicated to the cultivation of organic vegetables, face the day-to-day challenge of deciding what, when, and where to plant, and what and when to harvest, to obtain a diversified and constant crop, enabling the sale of all its products with quality. As these are organic products, in some cases storage is possible only for a few days in cold chambers, but in other cases, the sale must be made on the day of harvest. To make these decisions, there is a demand forecast and an estimate of how much will be produced from what was planted. Some points must be taken into account, such as the planting time of each species, the soil type, the cycle of each plant (amount of time from planting to harvest), which crop can be close to each other, which cultivation can be done after one has been harvested, among others. The objective of this project is to identify all the variables and constraints of this problem, consulting a family organic producer in São Carlos (São Paulo countryside), and model it mathematically, as a mixed integer linear optimization problem. We intend to develop different models and solve instances based on real cases (using a commercial solver) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each proposed model. For this, we intend to study formulations already present in the literature and make adaptations for the case of interest.(AU)