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Trade-off functions

Trade-off functions express how much of one objective has to be sacrificed to increase the value of another objective by one unit.


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MODAM trade-off functions are derived by a number of subsequent model runs, where gross margin (or any other goal function) is optimised while for each run higher levels of the environmental objective are implemented through constraints on the index of goal achievement resulting from the environmental impact assessment.

Characterisation of the fields and evaluation of the cropping technologies result in an index of goal attainment for each combination of site, cropping technology, and environmental target. These index values are used as restrictions in the farm linear programming model. Total goal achievement for the farm area is then calculated by summing the products of the goal achievement index and the area of each field. A series of consecutive runs was executed with, in each run, a 10 % increase in the minimum value for a specific environmental goal, starting from the reference situation up to 100 % goal attainment. The results can be presented in pair-wise trade off functions. The calculated losses in total gross margin represent the private farm enterprise costs for changes in

i)   the specific intensity of production,
ii)  the combination of production factors and
iii) the organisation of the farm.

 

 

Additional costs for the private and the public sector associated with the transfer of information or the development and implementation of regulations are not included here.

The other type of results MODAM can present is landuse maps.

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