Sustainable agri-food supply chain planning through multi-objective optimisation
Ana Esteso, M. M. E. Alemany, Ángel Ortíz
Abstract
Farms usually plan the planting and harvest of crops independently and without considering the plans of the rest of supply chain (SC) members. This generates large imbalances between crops' supply and demand in markets, as well as significant price fluctuations. Shifting how crop production is planned to joint SC decision-making would offer significant advantages in preserving agricultural SC sustainability. This paper explores this idea by proposing a multi-objective optimisation model for planning the planting, cultivation, harvesting, storage, packaging, transport, labouring, and sale of fresh crops. The tool considers five objectives aligned with sustainability: maximising SC profits (economic), minimising waste (environmental), minimising unsatisfied demand (social), maximising sold crops' freshness (environmental and social), and minimising economic injustice perceived by farmers (social). The tool is validated through its application to the La Plata fresh tomato SC case study in Argentina and it is shown how the tool could be used by real decision-maker(s).