Silvopastoral and agroforestry systems: An integer linear programming model for investment decisions

Abstract

Since the countryside is one of the main drivers of the global economy, it is vital to support its technological development. When a potential investor contemplates agribusiness investments, several alternatives are presented to him, including forestry, livestock raising, and silvopastoralism, which consists of integrating both activities into a single agroforestry system. In this paper, we address the problem of designing a portfolio of agroforestry investments that maximizes economic results. In order to do so, we developed an integer linear programming model, which selects the optimal combination of the three aforementioned activities for a zoned field. This model was created from a national perspective, considering elements specific to the Uruguayan reality. Additionally, we produced a model implementation utilizing cutting-edge software such as AMPL and CPLEX. This solution was empirically validated using a battery of 56 test cases, based on actual data gathered from multiple sources.