Multicriteria Analysis in Agriculture

This book outlines the latest trends in the use of multicriteria analysis in agriculture by highlighting recent applications for modeling agricultural decision-making. It introduces specific case studies using multicriteria analysis as a method for selecting multiattribute discrete alternatives or solving multiobjective planning problems. The book is intended for a broad readership, including agricultural and environmental economists, engineers and all scientists whose work involves the management of agricultural resources and decision-making in agriculture. The methods and applications presented in this book cover decision-making processes in agricultural and environmental contexts. The methodologies described consider multiple criteria simultaneously in a wide range of complex decision-making contexts by taking into account multiple, conflicting criteria. Given the wide range of case studies covered, the book offers a comprehensive guide to decision-making in the agriculturalcontext and beyond.

Autorentext

Julio Berbel is a full Professor of Agricultural Economics in University of Cordoba where he is the coordinator of various Research project related to environmental management and biotechnology. He holds a PhD Agricultural Engineering (Un. Córdoba) and Master Agricultural Economics (Univ. Manchester).He has published research related to multicriteria decision making applied to agribusiness, environmental management. He has been consultant and technical assistance to the European Commission (DG ENV-Water), Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (Spain) and other regional governments and Water Authorities for the implementation of Water Framework Directive and River Basin Plans where he has applied economic instruments and MCDM methods. He combines hand-on experience in environmental and agribusiness management sector with academic and scientific quality research.

Thomas Bournaris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He received his BSc in Agricultural Economics from the School of Agriculture, and MSc in Agricultural Economics both from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He works and has interests in agricultural economics, farm management and regional planning, sustainability in agriculture, and management of agricultural resources. He received his PhD from the Department of Agricultural Economics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His recent publications include papers in the Journal of Environmental Management, European Journal of Operational Research, Regional Studies, Journal of Policy Modelling, Environmental Impact Assessment Review and Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

Basil Manos is a full Professor of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His research interests are in farm management and regional planning, environmental management, impact assessment, sustainability and efficiency. He has studied mathematics, economics, operational research and agricultural economics in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and London School of Economics. He has conducted research in many national and European funded projects. His recent publications include papers in Regional Studies, Journal of Policy Modelling, British Food Journal, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Land Use Policy, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, and Journal of Environmental Management.

Nikolaos Matsatsinis is a full Professor of Information and Decision Systems in the School of Production Engineering and Management at the Technical University of Crete, Greece. He is President of the Hellenic Operational Research Society (HELORS) and Director of Decision Support Systems Lab. He is Chief Editor in two international scientific journals and member of the international advisory board of three scientific journals. He has contribute as scientific or project coordinator on over of fifty national and international projects (eg. FP7, COST, Life, Interreg, Adapt, Leonardo, etc). He is the author or co-author of 21 books and over of 100 articles in international scientific journals and books. He has organized and participated in the organization of over of 80 scientific conferences and he has over of 180 presentations in international and national scientific conferences. His research interests fall into the areas of Intelligent Decision Support Systems, Recommendation Systems, Multicriteria Decision Analysis, Group Decision Making, Operational Research, Consumer Behavior Analysis, Analytics, etc. Davide Viaggi is an Associate Professor in Agricultural Economics and Rural Appraisal. After a degree in agricultural sciences, he got a PhD in Agricultural economics and policy. Working since more than 20 years in this field, with research interests: agricultural policy evaluation, economics of water use in agriculture, environmental evaluation, economics of agri-environmental schemes, farm management. He was the coordinator of the FP7 projects CAP-IRE and CLAIM and is now coordinating the H2020 project PROVIDE. Results are presented in more than 350 scientific publications.

Inhalt
Multi-Scaling Agroclimatic Classification For Decision Support Towards Sustainable Production.- Review of multicriteria methodologies and tools for the evaluation of the provision of Ecosystem Services.- Integrating AHP and GIS techniques for rural landscape and agricultural activities planning.- The use of the Analytic Network Process for the analysis of public goods supply from agricultural systems: Advances and challenges ahead.- Allocating shadow prices in a multi-objective chance constrained problem of biodiesel blending.- Promoting small-scale biofuel production: a qualitative GIS-OWA methodology for land suitability analysis of winter rapeseed.- Multi-criteria decision analysis: Linear and non-linear optimization of aque-ous herbal extracts.- Methodology and criteria for the allocation of reused water in agriculture.- Simulating farmers' decision-making with a Cobb-Douglass MAUF. An application for an ex-ante policy analysis of water pricing.- Perceptions And Attitudes Of Greek Farmers Towards Adopting Precision Agriculture- Case Study Region Of Central Greece.- Multi-criteria optimization methods applied in agricultural touring.- Life Cycle Assessment and Multi-Criteria Analysis in agriculture. Synergies and insights.