The evaluation of Lithuanian crop producers‘ decision making using a multiobjective optimization approach

Abstract

A review of the scientific literature revealed that the use of only one objective, such as the maximization of gross margin, is not sufficient to interpret farmers’ behavior. The research problem is to determine whether other attributes such as risk, leisure time also play an important role in their decision making. The paper aims to evaluate Lithuanian crop producers’ decision making using a multiobjective optimization approach in relatively small, medium and large farms. The analysis was performed on data from specialist cereals, oilseeds and protein crops’ farms covered by FADN. The results of the analysis revealed that Lithuanian specialist cereals, oilseeds and protein crops’ producers aim to achieve multiple goals and those goals are different according to farm size. The research also showed that not all famers consider gross margin as its primary objective.