A Model for Joint Planning of Production and Distribution of Fresh Produce in Agricultural Internet of Things

The production and distribution planning of fresh produce is a complex optimization problem, which is affected by many factors, including its perishable characteristics. Farmers cannot guarantee the efficiency and accuracy of production and distribution decisions. Given the close relationship between the production and distribution of annual fresh produce, the intention of our research is to solve the two-stage joint planning problem and maximize the revenue of farmers ultimately. The internal relationship matrix between the two links of production and distribution is established. On this basis, we propose a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model, which covers the constraints of labor and capital. The decisions obtained are not only based on price estimation and resource availability but also on the impact of the agricultural Internet-of-Things technology and the special requirements of each distribution channel. Numerical experiments demonstrate that when the planting area is 1, 4, and 6 ha, the proposed joint planning model can improve the distribution revenue of farmers by 7.92%, 4.15%, and 4.94%, respectively, compared with the traditional separate decision-making approach of distribution. According to different decision scenarios, management insights have been obtained. For example, farmers should carefully sort and package products as well as choose a timely and safe third-party express delivery company. Additionally, the proposed strategy can evaluate the impact of distribution channels on farmers’ revenue.

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