Last year, UK CEA Extension got connected with Shane Fields, a commercial grower and Navy veteran returned home to a remote part of Greenup County, Kentucky, with ambitions of building a retail storefront to sell unusual tropical and native edible plants. As a community-minded person, he also applied for and won an EQIP high tunnel grant through NRCS, with plans to grow more conventional horticulture crops (tomatoes and squash) for sale at the local farmer’s market. Unfortunately, in his first year, his tunnel tomato crop was completely wiped out early in the season by high temperatures.Shane approached Extension looking for ways to:

• Monitor whether his growing environment was meeting the needs of his plants
• Reduce negative environmental impacts and be a good steward of his land
• Work smarter and reduce intensive physical labor, so he can continue his farm work into old age
• Make more use of local resources and reduce dependence on outside expertise
• Educate other growers, local community members, and his customers about all of the above

As a participant in the pilot year of the CEA Pathways program, Shane could attend exclusive training workshops. One workshop focused on crop monitoring and how crop management practices like deleafing and pruning can be adjusted depending on the growing environment to ensure consistent and higher quality yields. The closing workshop included a field day and grower networking at the UK Horticulture Research Farm and Greenhouse, where we presented different hydroponic production methods. Shane, who is otherwise a “technology skeptic,” was inspired by these workshops and opened up to new technologies that could help him achieve his goals using methods he had not previously considered.

Following the crop loss of his first year, the UK CEA Team (also as part of a different research project) provided a low-cost environment monitoring sensor to track temperature and light levels in his greenhouse, and Shane was able to pull a shade cloth on top of his tunnel in time to maintain a healthy crop. He has already sold 9 pounds of early tomatoes at the local farmer’s market.

The UK CEA Team recently hosted a workshop at Shane’s farm (July 9) to recruit for the second cohort of CEA Pathways and to demonstrate to other farmers in the community the same crop management lessons that he has already begun to learn and implement as a previous participant. Shane also shared his learning process as a new greenhouse grower with the 20 other attendees.