Research on Economic Value of Agricultural Aviation Industry Published in Journal of Agribusiness Highlighting a Loss of 24% for Producers if Aerial Application Were Not Available

Research supported by the NAAA that documented the economic impact of the agricultural aviation industry in the United States has been published in the Journal of Agribusiness, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia. The article “Value of the Agricultural Aerial Application Industry in the United States Delineated by Crops Grown and by State: A Counterfactual Study” was published in Volume 40, Issue Number 2 of the journal. This is listed as the Fall 2022 issue because the journal is still experiencing delays resulting from COVID-19.

The paper was authored by Kaitlynn Hughes, Senarath (Sam) Dharmasena, Ph.D. and Daniel Martin, Ph.D. Sam is an instructional associate professor in Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. Kaitlynn is pursuing her Ph.D. in this department, and Dan is a former member of the USDA-ARS Aerial Application Technology Research Unit at College Station, TX.

Other portions of this research project have been previously presented at the 2020, 2021 and 2023 Ag Aviation Expos. The journal article focused on what would happen to the revenue for both producers and agricultural input suppliers if aerial application were no longer available for use in the U.S. The researchers concluded that the total loss in revenue for producers without access to aerial application would be 24%; for agricultural input suppliers, the loss in revenue would be 27%. This study highlights the important role agricultural aviation plays in agricultural production in the U.S.