Participants:  Young farmer and her husband, Extension ANR Agent and Assistants.

The supply of local produce does not meet the demand in May and throughout the month of June at our Farmers Market.  USDA grants through the Natural Resources and Conservation Service offer potential to help in this area.  One roadblock to this is an NRCS rule that the recipient of the grant has to agree not to use artificial heat for the first few years.  A potential solution to this is to build a low tunnel inside the high tunnel.  This can be accomplished by building a frame out of pvc pipe about 24" tall and double covering it with Reemay fabric used for tobacco and other plant beds.  The sun warms the soil in the daytime and the Reemay covering holds the heat in to ward off frosty temperatures in the High Tunnel.  

We set up a demonstration with a new high tunnel grower.  We installed trickle irrigation, set Red Deuce tomatoes, Carolina Gold tomatoes, Buffalosun tomatoes and Socrates cucumbers.  The cucumbers were ready to harvest by May 10 and the tomatoes by June 10.  The producer gained about three weeks advantage by installing the high tunnel March 22 rather than waiting until the normal mid-April date of April 15.  This gave her the opportunity to take advantage of the better early prices people are willing to pay for local early produce.  The local ANR agent used his expertise for extending the growing season for fall grown produce to get a head start on the early growing season without involving an  expensive heating system.  The yield and quality of the produce has been excellent.  

This has increased the availability of quality produce at the Farmers Market two to three weeks earlier than normal.  

We have gained knowledge by doing this project and we are already talking to new producers about implementing this low tunnel in a high tunnel concept for next year.  We will continue to disseminate this information to potential growers and our current growers in our meetings and through social media.  

The response so far has been very positive and has generated some enthusiasm within the agri-business community.  We look forward to expanding this to more growers next year.