Work organization simulation as a basis for farm management advice (equipment and manpower, levels against climatic variability)

Abstract The product and the farm costs in arable farming systems are dependent on the interannual climatic variability. In the present context of agricultural price stagnation, the increase of worker productivity is one of the first priorities in this kind of system. Previous studies revealed that in the arable farming systems studied, equipment and manpower levels are settled by the amount of autumn work. So the authors try to give prominence to available margins retarding climatic risks during this peak period. The method presented is based on a simulation of the running of autumn work. The simulator employs structural data such as a cropping plan, equipment and manpower combination, and a general organization model which includes decision rules. In fact, it appears as a work calendar which gives, under the same climatic conditions, the same cultivation operations and the same work dates as the farmer's ones. The computerized setting has been achieved on a compatible microcomputer and written in C language. After validation from work dates truly observed on the farm, the simulation operated over fifteen different climatic years and so allows the analysis of the system in non-observable situations. An illustration of the model's possibilities is given from an example.