Managing Risk in Fresh Produce Planning Considering Price Variability, Yield Variability, and Regional Complementarity
摘要
Agricultural supply chains for fresh products exhibit higher levels of variability than those exhibited by other agri-food supply chains for products with longer shelf lives such as grains, cotton, or frozen foods. This variability takes different forms; chief among them are price and yield variability. These factors complicate the task of the grower of deciding when and how much of each crop to plant to maximize expected profits. In this chapter we discuss mathematical models for making planting decisions that are robust to the price and yield variability of fresh foods so that growers can maximize their expected profit. As part of the chapter, a case study is presented. The case study allocates production among complementary regions using a stochastic programming approach.