Energy Conservation for Organic High Tunnel Production through Rain Water Utilization, Ventilation Management, Soil Mulches and Cover Crops

This project proposes to collect, store and irrigate with rainwater captured from high tunnels using gravity pressure or solar power to avoid power consumption from pumping ground water and surface water supplies. This project will manage the passive ventilation systems in high tunnels to create more optimum air temperatures for plant growth without the need for power consuming fans. It will use soil mulches and a row cover inside high tunnels to create more optimum soil and crop canopy temperatures by increasing absorption of solar radiation and reducing night time heat loss without using power consuming heaters. The project will also establish and incorporate winter and summer Cover Crops in high tunnels to improve soil quality and increase biologically-fixed nitrogen reducing the Energy required to produce and transport organic or conventional fertilizer. It will also demonstrate the benefits of Energy conserving practices in high tunnel production to promote adoption of these sustainable methods through on-farm demonstrations, field days, workshop presentations and Extension fact-sheets.