US (TX): Organic farmers turn to specialty greenhouses
Just outside Cruz Salinas’ home, he’s building his second high tunnel to grow strawberries as big as ping-pong balls.
“There are a few being built in the area,” said Osvaldo Longoria, a U.S. Department of Agriculture conservationist who oversees the Valley. “There’s been a great interest by organic farmers and back-door farmers with specialty crops.”
So far, Longoria said, about 10 high tunnels have been built in the Valley.
“Small producers are looking for a niche in their specialty crop,” Longoria said. “It gives them protection if and when we get any frost.”
In August 2014, Salinas used a grant from the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service to build his first high tunnel, a type of unheated greenhouse made of piping under a thick, plastic cover.
Read more at the Valley Morning Star