SOLAR: An intelligent decision support system for farm planning

SOLAR is an intelligent decision support system designed to assist farmers in the selection of crop mixes and alternative farming technologies. It combines a database with a linear programming (LP) model builder and solver, a general farm budgeting model and an expert system, that interprets LP model results. This system is being used in the extension program of a fertilizer company in Brazil, Based on information obtained by company agronomists in their farm visits, budgets for alternative crop mixes and farming technologies can be rapidly prepared and discussed with farmers. An LP model of the farm operation can also be automatically generated, solved and interpreted, so that the results can be easily understood and conveyed by the agronomists. Repeated runs of the system eventually lead to a farm plan which is considered acceptable by the decision maker. Results of the first year of implementation are encouraging evidence of the potential role of such tools in the improvement of farm management. Increases in gross margins of up to 20% were observed.