FARMIND: Farm Interaction and Decision Model

Abstract

This is an agent-based model for the simulation of farm level decision-making developed by the Agricultural Economics and Policy Group at ETH Zurich (www.aecp.ethz.ch). The model represents each farm as an agent as well as a node in social networks. Each agent chooses a strategy for perform activities based on the satisfaction and uncertainty about its output. A set of activity options is determined for each agent according to the strategy it chooses and by considering its personal preference and social interactions with its peers. A linear programming model, integrated into the agent-based model, is then used to select an optimal activity for each agent to perform and generate an income value. The model provides a generic and conceptually sound approach to improve the scope for representing farmers’ decision-making and allows the simulation of their decisions and recent advances in behavioural economics to be aligned with existing bio-economic models of agricultural systems.

There are two associated documents to the model. 1) The Overview, Design concepts and Details (ODD) protocol is a standardized document for providing a consistent, logical and readable account of the structure and dynamics of FARMIND. 2) A detailed sensitivity analysis of FARMIND provides an overview of the most important parameters and their sensitivity to changes in assumptions and structure of the model.