Impact of Hydroponic Technology Adoption on Vegetable Production in the United States

Yoonjung Lee and John Bovay

No 361075, 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Hydroponic systems constitute a growing segment of U.S. vegetable production, offering advantages in input efficiency and year-round cultivation. This paper develops a two-stage analytical framework to examine the determinants of hydroponics adoption and to quantify its prospective market-level implications. In the first stage, two theoretically grounded approximate measures—area-based and operation-based adoption rates—are constructed using publicly available data from USDA NASS, PRISM, EIA, and the U.S. Census. A random forest model is employed to identify key predictors and forecast state-level adoption through 2024. The results highlight distinct adoption mechanisms shaped by demographic, economic, and environmental factors. In the second stage, the predicted adoption rates are incorporated into a partial equilibrium supply model accounting for technological heterogeneity. Simulations estimate the effects on aggregate supply and producer surplus. The framework offers a novel approach for linking technology diffusion with market-level welfare analysis.

Keywords: Production; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea25:361075

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.361075

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