High Tunnels Paper 3 Summary

3. The use of high tunnels to produce fruit and vegetable crops in North America.  Janke et al.  2017.  23pp.

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This paper has a detailed description of high tunnels including the two main high tunnel designs (single bay and multibay) as well as crop suitability.  It also discusses historical and current use of high tunnels where high tunnel use has been greater overseas in Korea, Spain, Japan, Turkey, and Italy.  In the U.S. between 2009 and 2014, there were 13,000 high tunnels installed through USDA cost share programs.  The authors provide information on what to consider when selecting a site such as accessibility for daily maintenance, maximum sunlight, drainage, wind protection, and in advance soil health preparations.  Soil health preparations include tillage, cover cropping, and repeat applications of organic matter.  Organic matter is critical for preserving and enhancing soil health and optimizing high tunnel operations. 

Many studies of increased yield and quality are presented for tomatoes, salad greens, strawberries, raspberries, and sweet cherries.  Blueberries and blackberries were not shown to have increased yield and quality in high tunnels in research at the time of the paper.

Lastly, the paper discusses future directions which are good indications of what is not currently known about high tunnel agriculture.  For example: crop rotations, arctic climates and other non-standard high tunnel areas, best biological and organic methods for pest control, soil amendments beyond macronutrients, floral crop research, and comparing yield and quality among protected forms of agriculture such as greenhouses, low tunnels, high tunnels versus field grown crops.