Developing an economic decision-support tool for growers' adoption of vegetable grafting production in the United States

Grafting is a promising horticultural technique for commercial vegetable production because it can provide vegetable growers a sustainable and eco-friendly practice to manage plant diseases, boost plant nutrient and water absorption, and increase fruit quality. However, the additional cost associated with using grafting technology was reported as a major barrier to adoption of the technology in the United States. In addition, the variation of vegetable yields resulting from grafting under different production conditions increased vegetable growers' concerns about the economic feasibility of adopting the technology. The study aims at developing a decision-support tool that allows vegetable growers to examine economic cost-benefit of adopting grafting technology under different production scenarios. By providing growers a tool to better assess the economic feasibility of vegetable grafting, taking into consideration of some real-time factors directly relevant to their production systems and scenarios, it is expected to motivate more vegetable growers to consider using the grafting technology to benefit their vegetable production systems.