Building and Managing a High Tunnel System for Small-Scale Urban and Suburban Production

Urban communities can benefit from the greater productivity and sustainability of high tunnel production. However, existing systems may be too large for urban or even suburban sites and unaffordable for urban growers. High tunnels can be obtrusive in the landscape, and their plastic cover contributes to stormwater runoff. Contaminated urban soils also demand different soil management from those used in conventional high tunnel production.

In this webinar, we describe the construction and management of a small-scale high tunnel system designed to address these challenges. The system has been evaluated for two years at the URI Gardener Crops Research Center and in community gardens sponsored by the Southside Community Land trust in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. This system is suitable for gardeners and farmers of vacant lots and backyards in urban to suburban settings. This class is taught by Dr. John Taylor, Associate Professor of Agroecology at the URI Dept of Plant Sciences and Entomology.

This project is supported by a Conservation Innovation Grant from the Rhode Island Office of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.