11/14/2007

Half-day Workshop Teaches Basics of High Tunnels, Growing-season Extension: First Offering is Dec. 10 in Zanesville

Writer:

Mauricio Espinoza
espinoza.15@osu.edu
(330) 202-3550

Source:

Matt Kleinhenz, Horticulture and Crop Science
kleinhenz.1@osu.edu
(330) 263-3810

WOOSTER, Ohio — Want to extend your growing and marketing seasons? Protect your crops from cold, wind and rain plus certain pests and diseases? Make more money in the process? High tunnels can help you. Learn the basics of this increasingly popular season-extension option in an introductory half-day course offered by Ohio State University specialists on six different dates at six different locations throughout Ohio.

“High Tunnels 101” — which will first be offered Monday, Dec. 10, at the Muskingum County office of OSU Extension, 225 Underwood St., Zanesville — is a unique opportunity for vegetable, fruit and flower growers interested in season-extension tools and techniques to learn the ABCs of high tunnels: how they work, where to buy them, how to build them, their benefits, drawbacks and other key information.

“High tunnel production can help a farm’s bottom-line and provide consumers with local foods over a longer period of the year,” said course co-organizer Matt Kleinhenz, an OSU Extension vegetable specialist with the university’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. “High-tunnel production is on the rise, but it isn’t for everyone. Growers who are considering it have many questions before or soon after they start. We’re trying to address these questions in High Tunnels 101.”

The course is organized by OSU Extension in partnership with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA), the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association, Innovative Farmers of Ohio, the Countryside Conservancy, the Mt. Hope Produce Auction, the Toledo Botanical Garden, and Crown Point Farm and Education Center.

High tunnels — unheated, plastic-covered, relatively inexpensive structures — can grow lots of food on little land, can do it nearly 12 months out of the year even in the upper Midwest, and need less-expensive equipment compared to larger-scale, open-field farming methods. Already widely used in Europe, high tunnels are starting to gain users in many parts of the United States.

Brad Bergefurd, a horticulturist with the OSU South Centers at Piketon and co-organizer of High Tunnels 101, said the program will be useful to a wide range of new and experienced growers.

“High tunnels are different from open fields and greenhouses,” Bergefurd explained. “In the course, we’ll emphasize how high tunnels can fit different types of farms: small and large, mechanized and less mechanized, conventional and organic, fruit, vegetable and flower. The course will also be appropriate for semi-commercial growers, master gardeners and students.”

Ron Becker, the third co-organizer and co-teacher of High Tunnels 101 and a program assistant with the Wayne County office of OSU Extension, said he is excited that people throughout the state will have a chance to participate in the course between now and next March 14. “This course will be close to nearly everyone at some point this winter. Our partners and hosts are doing a great job of preparing for the programs,” Becker pointed out.

Information presented during each half-day workshop will be nearly the same, including targeted lectures, question-and-answer periods and informal discussions on a variety of topics. But the instructors said that information would be presented in a way that allows for personal attention, whether participants are would-be or just-started high-tunnel users.

“We’re preparing people to start their high-tunnel business on the right foot,” Becker said. “But we’ll also answer questions from people who started recently and have some experience.”

Experienced high-tunnel users, meanwhile, are encouraged to check out programs scheduled at the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers Congress, Jan. 15-17 in Sandusky, and at the OEFFA annual conference, Feb. 16-18 in Granville.

Pre-registration for High Tunnels 101 is encouraged. To pre-register, choose a location from the six listed below; contact the person handling registration at that site; and send a check or money order payable to The Ohio State University for $20 to the program contact. Do not send cash. Please provide your name, address and phone number. On-site registration is subject to seating availability and costs $25.

High Tunnels 101 Dates and Locations

All courses will be held from 1-5 p.m.

—Monday, Dec. 10, 2007

OSU Extension’s Muskingum County Office
225 Underwood St.
Zanesville, OH 43701
Contact: Mark Mechling, (740) 454-0144, mechling.1@osu.edu.

—Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008

Toledo Botanical Garden
5403 Elmer Dr.
Toledo, OH 43615
Contact: Barbara Northrup, (419) 578-6783, northrup.10@osu.edu.

—Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008

Mt. Hope Auction Inc.
P.O. Box 82
8076 St. Rt. 241
Mt. Hope, OH 44660
Contact: Thurman Mullett, (330) 674-6188

—Friday, Jan. 25, 2008

Crown Point Farm and Education Center
3220 Ira Rd.
Bath, OH 44210
Contact: Beth Knorr, (330) 657-2538, beth@thefarmlandcenter.org.

—Friday, Feb. 15, 2008

OEFFA
Granville, OH 43023
Contact: (614) 421-2022

—Friday, March 7, 2008

Village Administration Building
Plymouth, OH 44865
Contact: Steven Prochaska, (419) 562-8731, prochaska.1@osu.edu.

For more information on the program, contact Kleinhenz, (330) 263-3810, kleinhenz.1@osu.edu; Bergefurd, (800) 297-2072, ext.136, bergefurd.1@osu.edu; or Becker, (330) 264-8722, becker.4@osu.edu.

OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

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