Agricultural farming planning and water resources management under fuzzy uncertainty

In this study, a rank-based fuzzy optimization (RBFO) approach was provided for supporting agricultural farming planning under complex uncertainties. RBFO was built by linking feasibility-degree-based fuzzy programming with fuzzy ranking. First, the model was solved under different levels of violation risks to environmental or capacity constraints, leading to a group of cost-effective solutions; then, the ranking technique was used to help identify the most desirable solution from different alternatives, based on the trade-off analysis between the system benefit and risk. A farm planning case with water resources management consideration was used to demonstrate the applicability of RBFO. The study results indicate that the provided systems analysis approach could help decision makers to gain a deep insight into the complex interrelationships among agricultural economic development, pollution control and water resources conservation in a farm planning system, and to seek cost-effective production patterns with favourable deliberation of various factors.