Solution Program “RP4XLP” for Recursive Farming Plan Model

Abstract

Investment in agricultural land and fixed capital goods has become large for reasons of management, scale expansion, adoption of new technologies, improvement of machinery, and other drivers. In evaluating the economic effect and adequacy of investment, it is important to consider not only the profit plan, but also the cash flow, such as raising and repaying funds, and the dynamics of land and fixed capital goods. For a 1-year farming period, a linear programming model is widely used to evaluate the economic efficiency of farm investment. For a 2-year or longer farming period, a dynamic farming plan model is required, such as a multi-stage farming plan model or a recursive farming plan model. Linear programming can handle a multi-stage model, because it seeks an optimal solution for the entire farming period. However, although it struggles to deal with a recursive farming plan model, which seeks an annual optimal solution, a dedicated solution program has not existed. Therefore, we developed a solution program for the recursive programming model for farming activities. The program makes it possible for a user to describe a recursive farming model and to seek the optimal solution of the model in an Excel worksheet.