An integrated production-logistics-crop rotation planning model for sugar beet supply chains

Abstract This paper presents an integrated strategic-tactical planning model for the sugar beet supply chain problem. The model includes the critical agricultural and industrial decisions coupled with the transportation of crops by capacitated vehicles from farms to the processing facilities. In the agricultural stage, the proposed model is used to analyze both agronomic and operational constraints for achieving a sustainable farming system through feasible strategic crop rotation plans. These plans integrate crop sequences with temporal and spatial variations while considering the known seasonal demand. The agricultural decisions involve crops planting and harvesting decisions to fulfill both fresh produce crops and processing demands. In the industrial stage, the key decisions include aggregate production plans for processing the harvested beet, as well as managing the shipping and storage of these agro-materials in the production facility. In this paper, a binary integer programming model is formulated with the objective of minimizing the overall operational cost including transportation and inventory of processed and non-processed beets. A unique time dimension was added to the planning horizon to allow crop rotation planning between different cropping seasons. A realistic case is used to test the formulated model and elaborate its complexity.