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Risk-averse Stochastic Optimization for Farm Management Practices and Cultivar Selection Under Uncertainty

Optimizing management practices and selecting the best cultivar for planting play a significant role in increasing agricultural food production and decreasing environmental footprint. In this study, we develop optimization frameworks under uncertainty using conditional value-at-risk in the stochastic programming objective function. We integrate the crop model, APSIM, and a parallel Bayesian optimization algorithm to optimize the management practices and select the best cultivar at different levels of risk aversion. This approach integrates the power of optimization in determining the best decisions and crop model in simulating nature's output corresponding to various decisions. As a case study, we set up the crop model for 25 locations across the US Corn Belt. We optimized the management options (planting date, N fertilizer amount, fertilizing date, and plant density in the farm) and cultivar options (cultivars with different maturity days) three times: a) before, b) at planting and c) after a growing season with known weather. Results indicated that the proposed model produced meaningful connections between weather and optima decisions. Also, we found risk-tolerance farmers get more expected yield than risk-averse ones in wet and non-wet weathers.