In sustainable agriculture, intercropping systems represent a valuable approach.
\nThese systems involve placing mutually beneficial plant types in close proximity to each other, with the goal of exploiting biodiversity to reduce pesticide
\nand water usage, as well as improve soil nutrient utilization. Despite its potential, the optimization of intercropping systems has received limited attention in
\nprevious studies. One of the first steps in the design of an intercropping system is the solution of the crop planting layout problem, which involves meeting
\ncrop demand while maximizing positive interactions between adjacent plants.
\nWe perform a complexity analysis of this problem and propose the use of constraint programming to solve it. To this aim, we present two models based on
\ninteger variables and interval variables, respectively. Through a computational
\nstudy using realistic instances, we examine the impact of different modeling
\napproaches on the difficulty of solving the crop planting layout problem with
\nstandard constraint programming solvers.<\/p>\n
Authors<\/strong>: Tommaso Adamo; Lucio Colizzi; Giovanni Dimauro; Emanuela Guerriero; Deborah Pareo<\/p>\n Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
\nVolume 224, September 2024, 109162<\/p>\n