Modelling Operational Decision-Making in Agriculture

Farm management practices differ considerably among farmers. In this article, we explore the processes which farmers go through when making operational decisions about technical interventions. Because farmers have different approaches to the decision-making process, it is essential to describe these differences to identify areas in which management skills require improvement. This study identifies and represents contextual, informational and inferential aspects of the cognitive work a farm manager performs in operational decision-making. We developed a conceptual modelling framework that structures the decision-making behaviour along a set of cognitive processes such as perception, interpretation, goal reasoning, planning and judgment. These processes are activated repeatedly throughout the production process. The framework can help characterize variation in management behaviour and performance, and identify promising directions for improvement.