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Sustainable cropping pattern in North Iran: application of fuzzy goal programming

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Abstract

Due to the important role that the application of mathematical programming models have in determining optimal cropping patterns, this research presents a sustainable cropping pattern that considers selected economic, environmental, and social goals together. Using a random sampling method, a sample size of 168 farmers was selected in the Sari County, Iran. Our results showed that economic, self-sufficiency, environmental, and social goals have a distinctly different impact on cropping pattern performance. Compared to the current cropping pattern, the gross margins for economic and social goals increased by nearly 11 and 2 %, respectively, and the gross margins for self-sufficiency and environmental goals decreased by nearly 2 and 36 %. Interestingly, it has been found that the performance of the current cropping pattern has an average positive impact of 6 % if economic, self-sufficiency, environmental, and social (employment) goals are realized simultaneously.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ms. Bethany Gardner from the Department of Linguistics, the State University of New York at Binghamton, for her kind help in improving the English of this text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Economics, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

    Ramtin Joolaie

  2. Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

    Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani

  3. Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Khuzestan Ramin Agricultural and Natural Resources University, Mollasani, Iran

    Fatemeh Taheri

  4. Department of Engineering Management, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Steven Van Passel

  5. Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium

    Steven Van Passel & Hossein Azadi

  6. Economics and Rural Development, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Hossein Azadi

  7. Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Hossein Azadi

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  1. Ramtin Joolaie
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  2. Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani
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  3. Fatemeh Taheri
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  4. Steven Van Passel
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  5. Hossein Azadi
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Correspondence to Hossein Azadi.

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Joolaie, R., Abedi Sarvestani, A., Taheri, F. et al. Sustainable cropping pattern in North Iran: application of fuzzy goal programming. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 2199–2216 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9849-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9849-9

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