Location-specific modeling for optimizing wildlife management on crop farms

In order to guide conservation and restoration of wildlife in agricultural areas research is needed into the trade-off between wildlife and agricultural production and income. This study presents a location-specific model for optimizing wildlife management on crop farms using integer programming. The model is applied to crop farming in the Netherlands. Most important outcome is a wildlife-cost frontier at the farm level. Model results show that rotating wildlife conservation practices across the farm is economically more attractive than fixed-location practices. Opportunities for use of the insights provided by model results by both policy makers and farmers are analyzed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.