US: High tunnels create opportunities for new farmers

Zoë Bradbury of Valley Flora Farm is part of a team of family farmers (Zoe, her sister Abby, and her mother Betsy) raising over 100 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables on 90 acres along Flora’s Creek in Langlois, Oregon. Their CSA serves families within a 50-mile radius and the farm is committed to sustainable practices. Farming along Oregon’s famously wet, blustery coast means Valley Flora’s crops need to be able to withstand cool summer temperatures, high winds, and rainy shoulder seasons.

To manage these challenges, Bradbury applied for the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative, which offers cost-share funding and technical assistance to farmers who want to extend the growing season on their farms by using high tunnels. High tunnels (or “hoop houses”) are hoop-like structures covered with plastic and placed over growing areas to help control the growing environment inside. High tunnels require no energy use, and rely only on natural sunlight to heat the tunnel, creating conditions that are favorable for warm-season vegetables and other specialty crops.

Through the EQIP initiative, Zoë and her family were able to build two high tunnels on their farm in 2014, which have been a big help in extending their growing season and mitigating the coast’s weather variability. The high tunnels on Valley Flora Farm work in tandem with the Bradbury’s other conservation practices, including cover cropping and using drip irrigation to manage water efficiently and minimize weed pressure.

“On the coast, our crops really need an extra heat boost through the summer,” said Zoë. “For example, with the high tunnels, we are able to start harvesting sweet peppers in July rather than in September. It’s a dramatic leg up for us in terms of season extension and our customers want to buy them for as long as we can have them.”

Read more at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition