ANALYZING THE EFFECT OF CHANGING FEED-BEEF PRICE RELATIONSHIPS ON BEEF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN HAWAII: A DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING APPROACH

A dynamic programming approach was used to evaluate the effect of changing the feed input to product price relationship on the beef production management decision process. The dynamic programming model consists of nine submodels describing and analyzing the time-dependent beef production management decision process. The model incorporates biological functions and economic principles. Results clearly showed the importance of the feed-beef price relationships in management decision making. Optimal beef production management strategies were generally consistent with beef production management practices followed in Hawaii under those feed-beef price relationships.