Applied Optimization in Agriculture

Charles B. Moss

ABSTRACT

Most of the applied research in agriculture emphasizes the formulation of current research questions into mathematical specifications that can be solved using well-tested algorithms. In addition, most of the applied optimization occurs in the economic or management dimensions of agriculture. This article focuses on such applications in nine categories: food and diet, farm and agribusiness management, farm firm development, production response, interregional trade and spatial economics, natural resources, econometric and statistical applications, policy analysis, and nonparametric efficiency analysis. The article then presents the dominant algorithms used in the field followed by emerging issues both in the area of formulations and algorithms.