Forage production and nutrient availability in small-scale dairy systems in central Mexico using linear programming and partial budgeting

Small-scale dairy systems play an important role in the Mexican dairy sector and farm planning activities related to resource allocation have a significant impact on the profitability of such enterprises. Linear programming is a technique widely used for planning and ration formulation, and partial budgeting is a technique for assessing the impact of changes on the profitability of an enterprise. This study used both methods to optimise land use for forage production and nutrient availability, and to evaluate the economic impact of such changes in small-scale Mexican dairy systems. The model showed satisfactory performance when optimal solutions were compared with the traditional strategy. The strategy using fresh ryegrass, maize silage and oat hay, and the strategy using a combination of alfalfa hay, maize silage, fresh ryegrass and oat hay appeared attractive options for providing a better nutrient supply and maintaining a higher stocking rate throughout the year than the traditional strategy.

Priority setting in healthcare: from arbitrariness to societal values

This paper develops an account of the normative basis of priority setting in health care as combining the values which a given society holds for the common good of its members, with the universal provided by a principle of common humanity. We discuss national differences in health basket in Europe and argue that health care decision-making in complex social and moral frameworks is best thought of as anchored in such a principle by drawing on the philosophy of need. We show that health care needs are ethically ‘thick’ needs whose psychological and social construction can best be understood in terms of David Wiggins's notion of vital need: a person's need is vital when failure to meet it leads to their harm and suffering. The moral dimension of priority setting which operates across different societies’ health care systems is located in the demands both of and on any society to avoid harm to its members.