Abstract

Controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) is well-positioned to contribute to a more sustainable food system. It has the potential to offset some of the negative impacts of conventional agriculture through its ability to optimize the crop growing environment, locate production closer to population centers, and take advantage of non-arable land. The focus of this dissertation is one type of CEA: the hydroponic container farm (HCF). The HCF grows crops using only water and fertilizer inside a 40-foot shipping container that can be located anywhere in the world. Manufacturers are optimistic about this farm’s abilities, but little research exists that investigates the nuanced role HCFs play in the food system. To better assess the sustainability implications of HCFs in the food system, this dissertation combines three interconnected lines of inquiry about social, environmental, and economic dimensions of HCF adoption and use. First, the dissertation assesses social implications by investigating how HCFs are currently being used from the perspective of farmers. We conduct semi-structured interviews and use grounded theory analysis to investigate why farmers chose to adopt the HCF, how they are currently using the farms, and their takeaways from the experience. Results show that HCFs are being used for a variety of functions in addition to food production, including social impact, education, and research. We characterize a set of steps that most farmers go through while obtaining and operating their farms, and identify characteristics of the larger environment in which the HCF operates that function as systematic barriers or enablers for successful HCF operation. Second, this research assesses the environmental impacts of HCF operation through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Informed by the interview and qualitative analysis outcomes, we build three different use case scenarios to represent the range of operational strategies and resulting resource use levels. We conduct a cradle-to-gate LCA of growing lettuce under these three use case scenarios and conduct sensitivity analysis on electricity source and HCF infrastructure lifetime. We show that electricity consumption in the HCF’s use phase drives the majority of environmental impacts, though the HCF performs better than conventional farms in terms of other impacts including water footprint. Results imply that HCF use should carefully consider social benefits against potential environmental costs.  Third, the dissertation investigates the economic interactions of HCF operation. In a two-part study, we first simulate a dynamic setting where a farmer can choose to grow using conventional and HCF methods depending on the level at which they personally value the environmental benefits of the HCF. Then, we conduct a game-theoretic analysis to assess how a conventional farmer, an HCF farmer, and consumers looking to purchase produce interact in the marketplace, as well as how different advertising scenarios by the farmers impact produce sales from each farm. Results of this study inform strategies for farmers to support profitability and provide policy recommendations to impact HCF adoption rates. Together, the results of this research show that HCFs do provide positive benefits to farmers, consumers, and the food system overall, though they are not the best solution for every situation. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of limitations of the current research and opportunities for future work to develop and expand upon the ideas presented here.

Publication Date

5-28-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Sustainability (Ph.D.)

Department, Program, or Center

Sustainability, Department of

College

Golisano Institute for Sustainability

Advisor

Callie W. Babbitt

Advisor/Committee Member

Kaitlin Stack Whitney

Advisor/Committee Member

Amitrajeet Batabyal

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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