ABSTRACT.- The intensification of activities in the Santa Lucia River basin in Uruguay has resulted in an increase in the concentration of nutrients in surface waters with the consequent acceleration of the eutrophication. Dairy production, of great relevance in the area, needs to increase production to ensure the economic viability of the activity. In this context, it is necessary to find solutions that address trade-offs between productivity and polluting potential. A dairy sub-basin of the Santa Lucia River was selected as a case study to develop an optimization model with the aim of minimizing phosphorus exportation over a four-year planning horizon while meeting restrictions on the crop sequence allowed, dry matter productivity and number of crops in each sub-basin producer. An integer linear programming formulation was proposed to model the problem. It was possible to obtain a model that managed to reduce phosphorus runoff losses by planning land uses and complying the restrictions. Exists a wide field of improvement of the model, which is a useful tool for analysis of scenarios and trade-off between productivity and environmental care. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd