Recursive programming analysis of prairie land utilization patterns

Abstract

To operate agricultural supply management programs efficiently in Canada, production response information is needed. This information will assist farmers in adjusting their crop acreages each year in order to bring supply of individual crops in line with demands. The general objective of the study was to explain historical prairie land utilization patterns as well as to predict future crop acreages for alternative levels of policy variables. To deal with these objectives, a recursive programming model was developed. Six grain crops and summerfallow were included in the model. The crops were wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and rapeseed. Several programming restraints were used in the study. The major restrictions were flexibility restraints which are the upper and lower bounds on allowable year-to-year changes in the acreages of each crop in the model. These restraints add predictive and recursive quality to the ordinary programming model...