The Objectives and Priorities for the Azorean Dairy Farmers’ Decisions - The Agricultural Economics of the 21st Century - page 142

Spain, was developed by Riesgo and Gom ´ z-Lim ´ n( 2006 ). These authors have
been chosen MAUT as the methodological framework for model-building at farm
level and four objectives (total gross margin, risk, total labor, and working capital)
to support the decision making process. The results obtained define a set of relevant
economic, social, and environmental attributes related to public criteria. The results
show the usefulness of this methodological approach to evaluate the impact of
policies. Also it was found the need of water pricing and agricultural policy to be
closely coordinated in order to meet the EU's policy objectives for the irrigated
agriculture sector.
Bartolini et al. ( 2007 ) show the effects of the scenarios on five irrigated farming
systems were simulated using multi-attribute linear programming models
representing the reactions of the farms to external variables defined by each
scenario. The results show a tradeoff between socioeconomic and environmental
sustainability. In this research objectives connected with income (net income and
profit) and labor (total, family, and external) were used. This emphasizes the need
for a differentiated application of the Water Framework Directive at the local level
as well as a more careful balance of water conservation, agricultural policy, and
rural development objectives.
In Portugal, the cases studies of Carvalho ( 2006 , 2007 ) can be highlighted for the
overall planning of irrigation intervention in the area of Alqueva, taking into
account multiple criteria of economic, social, and environmental nature. These
works simulated the possible preference of decision centers to face the identified
objectives, through the utility function maximizing, with different weighting
assumptions to the criteria. Two hypotheses reflected only the economic concerns
and risk aversion, while the remaining three considered issues of environmental and
social nature.
4 Material and Methods
Many authors have demonstrated the complexity of farmers' decision making
(Solano et al. 2001 ; Bergevoet et al. 2004 ) and stressed the importance of a variety
of criteria that are taken into account by farmers when they have to decide. These
studies suggest that decision making is driven by other criteria conflictive with
profit such as risk, leisure, environmental policies, and others. In the light of these
findings, MAUT has been proposed to this chapter as a theoretical approach for the
Multi-Criteria decision making programming modeling, which uses not only the
classical single-attribute utility function (profit maximization) but also take into
account other farmers' objectives in their decision making processes. Riesgo and
Gom´z-Lim´n( 2006 ) concisely described this methodology as a calibration pro-
cedure developed through a process of weighted goal programming that estimates
objective weightings that better fit actual farmers' behavior. The MAUT was used
in this model because the other methodologies that allows to estimate the utility
function needs in its processes an interaction between farmers and models analyst.