Comparing specialised and mixed farming systems in the clay areas of the Netherlands under future policy scenarios: an optimisation approach

Increasing attention for the sustainability concept also caused renewed interest in mixed farming systems in the Netherlands, which supposedly have some advantages over specialised farming systems. These advantages are not unambiguous and may also be realised in specialised farming systems. A systematic quantification of differences in environmental and economic performance between specialised and mixed farming systems was therefore considered useful. The multiple goal linear programming model developed in this study optimises the configuration of regionally specialised or mixed farming systems, subject to a set of constraints, to one of a set of defined objectives, selecting from a large set of agricultural activities...