CoHort is part of a strategic farm advisory process conducted by an advisor with an individual producer or groups of producers. The approach is based on the design and simulation of scenarios, each representing a possible evolution of the case studied. CoHort calculates the environmental performance of the simulated scenario in terms of the environment (TFI – Treatment Frequency Index), labour (monthly supply-demand balance) and economics (gross and net margins). Analysing simulation outputs and comparing scenarios allow the producer to better evaluate virtually the advantages and disadvantages of each configuration explored. It is therefore an aid for reflection that can ultimately lead to a decision, one which may include maintaining the status quo if the envisaged developments do not prove relevant in the light of the objectives set by the producer.

 CoHort represents the farm by breaking it down into three parts (Fig. 1):

1. farming activities that the user wishes to model and which will be described in detail in terms of crop blocks, block-by-block farming practices and working time;
2. farming activities for which only labour needs will be taken into account;
3. off-farm activities that also are time consuming.

CoHort is structured around three modules (see sections 4, 5 & 6). The first, called ‘Parameters’, allows users to build their own lists of names concerning:

• farming and off-farm activities;
• cultivar per crop;
• tasks using input, labour and equipment;
• treatment product families and the products themselves;
• labour force categories;
• fixed and variable costs.

 These lists are generally specific to an intervention area and will be used with all farms studied in that area. They are completed by the user of the software as new names are encountered.

 The second module, called ‘Farm’, allows the user to create a farm and briefly describe its crop pattern and livestock.

 The third module, called ‘Scenario’, allows the user to create and characterise each scenario in relation to the farm studied. For this, a set of pages must be filled in concerning the farm’s:

1. labour resources;
2. labour requirements of the non-modelled part of the farm;
3. fixed costs.

 Then, after further breaking down the modelled part of the farm into crop blocks, the following information must be entered for each block:

a. surface area, crop cultivated on it, cultivar concerned and yield;

b. selling prices of the productions;

c. related farming practices and labour monthly labour requirements;

d. treatments carried out;

e. variable costs.

 The results calculated include the TFI per block and over the whole modelled part of the farm, the monthly work balance, the costs per task and block, the gross margins per block and total, and the net margin on the modelled part of the farm. All variables and equations used in CoHort are described in Appendix A ‘List of variables and equations encountered in CoHort’. Scenarios can be very diverse, ranging from changes in farming practices requiring investments, such as the use of nets on orchards or the introduction of new cultivars that are more resistant to fungal diseases (Pissonnier et al., 2017), to the re-design of the entire production system, such as the introduction of a sheep herd in a specialised apple farm (Pissonnier et al., 2019).

License

 This software is available under a BSD-3-Clause license.

Copyright (c) 2019 INRA (now INRAE) and CIRAD. All rights reserved.

 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

•      1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
•      2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
•      3. Neither the name of CIRAD, INRA or INRAE nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY INRAE and CIRAD "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Installation Procedure

 To install CoHort on your PC, DOWNLOAD the archive file by clicking on the link below, open the archive and run the setup.exe file. A subdirectory called CoHort 2019 is then created in your Programs directory.

 A second subdirectory called CoHort is also created in your ‘My Documents’ directory. It stores a set of information related to your own use of the software (e.g.: parameter values).

 Finally, you can create your own CoHort subdirectory to store *.csv files from the export of each scenario you want to keep.

DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE below:

 Fichier installation Cohort.zip - 207,3 MB

DOWNLOAD THE USER MANUAL below:

 User Manuel Cohort 2021.pdf - 4,8 MB

Contact

 solene.pissonnier@agroparistech.fr