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High Tunnels For Local Food Systems: Subsidies, Equity, And Profitability, Nathaniel Foust-Meyer, Megan E. O'Rourke

Food Systems Summit 2014

High tunnels (HTs) constitute a growing, local level response to the globalization of our food. As semi-permanent greenhouses, HTs bring practical on-farm solutions to biophysical growing constraints; they extend the growing season and buffer delicate crops from extreme weather events. In 2009, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) began subsidizing the construction of HTs with the documented goals of increasing environmental stewardship and the added benefit of promoting local foods. However, many questions remain about the impacts of HT’s. Who is benefiting from the NRCS HT program? Will farmers continue to adopt HTs in the absence of government subsidies? What …