A whole-farm model based on experimental flocks and crop rotations in northwest Syria
Nordblom, T.L. | Thomson, E.F.
A six year experiment at Tel Hadya, Syria, provided data on four rainfed crop rotations: (1) barley-fallow, (2) barley-vetch, (3) wheat-lentil-water melon and (4) wheat-vetch-water melon. "Traditional" rotations (1 and 3 above) were managed as by farmers in the area: "high-input" rotations (2 and 4) incorporated vetch crops for pasture or hay and used "improved" cultural practices and cereal varieties. A linear programming model was used to compute optimal solutions for 36 resource and management scenarios. Farm profits with the "high input" rotations were greater than those of the "traditional" rotations under all comparable resource conditions, the former being associated with greater crop yields and sheep numbers. Profits and ewe numbers increased when native pasture was added to the farm, and increased further with fertilized pasture. Optimal ewe numbers declined with a change from low to high nutritional regimes, but farm profits were little affected
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