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"High Tunnel" Farming Units Now On Market
"After reading your story on high tunnel farming (Vol. 25, No. 5) I thought your readers would like to know about the new Haygrove tunnels we recently began importing from England," says Ralph Cramer, Elizabethtown, Pa.
  "High tunnel farming" extends the growing season for fresh market vegetable crops. Unlike greenhouses, they're not heated. But, they're big enough to drive tractors and implements inside and are intended to be permanent structures in the field.
  The Haygrove tunnels have metal frames covered by plastic that can be rolled up on the sides. The units come in widths from 18 to 27 ft. and can be built to any length. Galvanized steel "Y" posts on each side allow you to connect as many bays together as you want.
  Cramer discovered the tunnels on a recent trip to England. He bought one for his own flower farm and then became the first North American distributor.
  "It's suitable for a wide variety of crops including strawberries, raspberries, cut flowers, nursery stock, herbs, specialty vegetables, cherries, tomatoes, pick-your-own operations, and more.
  "Haygrove Farms introduced field-scale units to the United Kingdom in 1993 and now supplies 75 percent of all the high tunnels used there. They're England's largest strawberry producer and grow more than 300 acres of strawberries and raspberries in tunnels.
  "The units they make are reasonably priced, assemble quickly, and don't require a level site. They cost less than 50 cents per sq. ft. The price includes Visqueen 2-year poly, which usually lasts about three years, and delivery to the farm. With the Y posts you can put up a second tunnel using half as many anchor posts. The bottom of each post has an auger welded onto it. On our own farm we use a small gas engine and an adapter to screw the posts into the ground. If we want to move the tunnels, we put a nylon strap on the posts and use a front-end loader to yank them out of the ground."
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Cramers' Posie Patch, 116 Trail Road North, Elizabethtown, Pa. 17022 (ph 877 272-6377); E-mail: rcramer@supernet.com; Website: www.haygrove.co.uk).


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2002 - Volume #26, Issue #2