Q4.

You are an undergraduate student who studies linear programming in your quantitative methods
course. Your parents run an agriculture business, and they manage 80 acres of farmland. The firm plants
maize crop and vegetables on the farm. The firm earns a net profit of $5,000 for each acre planted with
maize crop and $3,000 for every acre of land planted with vegetables. The firm has to comply with the
government environmental protection agency (EPA) regulations. The regulations restrict the firm’s total
pesticide usage to 100 gallons for the entire 80-acre farm. Maize plantation requires 2 gallons of
pesticide per acre, while every acre of vegetable plantation requires 1 gallon. Your parents have asked
you to help them optimise their business operations by answering the following questions.

Q4.a. Formulate a linear programming problem by writing the following: (5 Marks)

-Objective function of the firm

-Constraints on the firm

-Non-negativity constraints

Answer Q4.b. and Q4.c. using the solver program in Excel.

Q4.b. What combination (acres of maize, acres of vegetables) should the firm plant in order to maximise
the net profit? (10 Marks)

Q4.c. What would be the optimised net profit of the firm? (10 Marks)