Thirsty plants outside at the South Plains Food Bank Farm welcomed a rainy day. There's also plants being nurtured indoors on the farm in a hoop-like building.
"High tunnels are basically a greenhouse without all the heating and air conditioning elements. So it's a lot more inexpensive way to grow an extended crop season for those in agriculture," Dr. Ashley Basinger-Elle, a horticulturalist said.
Dr. Basinger-Elle said these hoophouses are a dream come true for growers, and give them a competitive edge.
"Basically, you can grow any crop you can grow outside but usually a month, or even earlier, so you can have an earlier crop it allows you to compete more so with the market," Dr. Basinger-Elle said.
The high tunnels extend the growing season by protecting crops that would normally be blasted by our severe, west Texas weather.
"Protect them from the winds, they kind of give the little plants a chance to get up before the winds come out here and tear them up," Debbie Cline, Manager for the South Plains Food Bank Farm, said.
Cline said the high tunnels not only safeguard plants, but the system also promotes cover crop.
"Cover crop will be going underground to start decomposing and enriching our soil. It'll feed the worms and micro-organisms, and it just makes for a healthier soil."
Flourishing soil means more produce for the South Plains Food Bank. That's where at least half of the farm's harvest is sent.
"Right here you can see we're growing onion sets that we normally wouldn't be able to grow outside. So it just allowing us to extend our ability to supply food for the food bank," Dr. Basinger-Elle said.
So what is normally an off season for Texas growers, becomes a window of opportunity.
"I can plant in winter, and in that tad of spring we get, I'm harvesting and can already be sending spinaches, lettuces, cabbages, all these items to the food bank," Cline said.
According to Dr. Basinger-Elle the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Services department has just received government funding to help Texas producers start up and utilize high tunnels.
