High Tunnel Projects in Michigan

We at WesMonTy came across an excellent article published by Michigan State University regarding some high-tunnel projects being done up there. They call them hoop-houses, but they are essentially the same thing.

Here is the link to the .pdf file.

http://www.mottgroup.msu.edu/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=NgeFE8B%2bsCY%3d&tabid=150

The article concerns the building of a hoop-house in Michigan for a test. The high-tunnel project is being done by David Conner. He is an established farmer and assistant professor with MSU. He also has an established network of buyers including a local farmers market, and some restaurants. He has taken the time to outline a business model of sorts, investigating the costs of the high-tunnel and the potential rewards.

He discusses the increases to his production, and he has even investigated the openness of his buyers to purchase certain foods in the winter. I recommend this article to anyone who is interested in building a high-tunnel.

This link to the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU is a great resource for anyone looking for information relating to sustainable projects they are thinking of implementing.

http://mottgroup.msu.edu/

They have several good resources on high-tunnels (hoop-houses), and some about raising animals, and growing certain crops.

This next link is for a document that has tips for people with high-tunnels.

http://mottgroup.msu.edu/portals/0/downloads/EatFresh.pdf

This website is a great resource for any grower, and we highly recommend it to the small farmers of West Virginia.

Keep checking back for more updates!