Title page
Contents
Abstract 3
Acknowledgments 3
Summary 5
Introduction 7
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Trend Analysis 8
USDA Research Support for Controlled Environment Agriculture 11
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Crop Specific Analysis 13
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Area 13
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Production 14
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Sales Value 16
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Dollar Value per Unit 17
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Hydroponics 19
Controlled Environment Agriculture: Research and Future Growth 20
Supply Chain Viability and Environmental Effect 22
Capital Intensity and Other Operating Costs 23
Consumer Perception 24
Agrivoltaics: Colocation of Solar Panels and Agricultural Production Systems 24
Agrivoltaics: Investments in Research and Development 24
Agrivoltaics Sector: Motivations for Development and Expansion 26
Agrivoltaics: Research and Development 26
Agrivoltaics: Commercial Sites 28
Agrivoltaics: Prospects 29
Conclusion 30
References 32
Appendix A: The Design and Operation of Hydroponic Systems 42
Types of Irrigation Systems 42
Types of Substrates 43
Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Systems 43
Opportunities and Challenges of Hydroponic Systems 43
Appendix B: The Operation of Aquaponic Systems 45
Water and Nutrients 45
Irrigation and Recirculation Systems 45
Opportunities and Challenges of Aquaponic Systems 46
Opportunities 46
Challenges 46
Appendix C: The Organic Designation of Hydroponic and Aquaponic Crops 47
What is Organic? 47
Previous Discussions on Container Systems in the Organic Community 48
Table 1. Controlled environment agriculture and hydroponics production of food crops, number of operations, 2009-19 20
Table 2. Estimated yields from USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and scientific experiments in conventional, protected, and hydroponic systems 22
Table 3. Agrivoltaics projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office (DOE-SETO) through June 2021 25
Figure 1. U.S. sales of controlled environment agriculture-produced food crops, 1998, 2009, 2014, and 2019 (inflation adjusted dollars) 9
Figure 2. U.S. controlled environment agriculture operations and production, 1998, 2009, 2014, and 2019 10
Figure 3. U.S. area of total controlled environment agriculture food crops, 1998, 2009, 2014, and 2019 14
Figure 4. U.S. production of controlled environment agriculture food crops, 2009, 2014, and 2019 15
Figure 5. Farm value of sales of controlled environment agriculture food crops produced, 1998, 2009, 2014, and 2019 16
Figure 6. Controlled environment agriculture sales value per unit in constant dollars, 2009, 2014, and 2019 18
Figure 7. Field-grown value per unit in constant dollars, 2009, 2014, and 2019 19
Figure A.1. Types of controlled environment agriculture hydroponic systems 42
Figure C.1. Fruit and vegetable sales growth in the U.S. organic retail food market, 2001-21 47