Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) represents an innovative approach to plant cultivation, enabling farmers to produce specialty crops at scale while conserving land and water resources. CEA offers solutions to various challenges in U.S. agriculture, including food safety, waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions, and urbanization-related land loss. Vertical farming, the most controlled form of CEA, holds significant potential for meeting global food demands sustainably. Despite recent capital investments and industry growth projections, there is a lack of economic research on CEA's viability, market competitiveness, and supply chain impact. This research aims to bridge these knowledge gaps by examining the market position of CEA foods, particularly vertical farming, and their economic implications. First, by analyzing existing CEA systems and consumer preferences, I seek to understand the potential role of vertical farms in urban food markets. Second, my research seeks to identify market failures hindering wider investment in vertical farming. I develop a comprehensive model of competition between traditional and CEA systems. Through stages of spatial competition analysis, dynamic technology adoption modeling, and policy evaluation, I aim to provide insights and policy recommendations for integrating CEA into the broader food system.

Vourazeris, Kelsey; Manfredo, Mark; Kozicki, Michael: “Value of Information from Improved Traceability in the Fresh Produce Industry”. Estimating results and drafting conclusions.

Traceability plays a key role in food security by mitigating the severity of food safety incidents and maintaining a robust sense of trust in food value chains. However, the adoption of these technologies tends to face some resistance due to a lack of proper evaluation of their economic value. In this paper, we estimate the value of information (VOI) from improved traceability tools in the leafy greens industry. We characterize the problem of a representative farmer that faces food safety shocks that reduce his revenue due to loss of sales. These shocks occur randomly but exhibit persistence over time. Traceability technologies can reduce the duration and severity of food safety events by aiding in hyper-focused and expedited recalls. We calibrate the model to match US data on outbreaks and recalls, as well as the average California’s lettuce farmer. Our results suggest that there are significant gains from investing in traceability technologies.