Qualitative analysis of hydroponic container farm adoption, use, and benefits in the U.S.

Abstract

The impacts of climate change, population growth, and resource constraints on conventional agriculture have sparked interest in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology. The hydroponic container farm (HCF) is a type of small-scale CEA infrastructure increasingly being adopted by cities, businesses, and nonprofits. Yet there is still significant uncertainty about HCF use, potential value to the food system, and broader sustainability benefits and tradeoffs. This research uses semi-structured interviews with farmers operating HCFs across the U.S. and grounded theory analysis to characterize HCF use, outcomes, benefits, and challenges. Results show that HCFs contribute direct benefits as food system infrastructure through food production, particularly in urban regions where conventional agriculture is infeasible, but also provide indirect benefits through education, workforce development, and broader social impact. Despite wide differences in the ways organizations use HCFs, we identified universal factors that moderate successful outcomes, including municipal zoning and permitting regulations, relationships between the HCF farmer and partners, the business model under which the HCF operates, and the design and cost of hydroponic technology. This study begins to characterize the social and economic tradeoffs that HCFs generate and provides use case data for future quantifications of environmental impact.