After three years of growing flowers and vegetables in central Missouri, it was obvious to me that I would need to invest in a hoophouse if I was serious about keeping my customers. Without the hoophouse, my growing season was too short and I didn’t have anything to offer that wasn’t already overproduced. Kind of like selling ice cubes in Alaska.

Although the hoophouse would likely solve my problems of season extension, I knew that mine would have to be different from the typical hoophouse since I am frequently an absentee producer. My job as a full-time firefighter in Jefferson City, MO, takes me away for a 24-hour period, ten days out of every month. Too much temperature variation occurs during that time to rely on a SWAG (scientific wild analytical guess) before leaving early in the morning for work. In addition to that obstacle, electricity was not available at the site to use other means of ventilation such as exhaust fans. The electricity should have been available since power lines crossed my property less than 100 feet from the site. However, the electric company decided that commercial rates would apply after a meter was set for a minimum charge of about $200 per month plus all the up-front costs.

To make a long story short, I decided to incorporate a thermostat-controlled curtain and use solar energy to power it in the absence of electricity. I first applied for a $3,000 Missouri Sustainable Agricultural Grant. After all, I didn’t want to gamble with my money! As soon as I got word of grant approval, I set the wheels in motion. I bought the 26’X 96’ hoophouse frame from Farm-Tek in Iowa and hastily set about building it.

After the hoophouse frame was set up on the site, I hired Russell Kever of Osage Agri-Systems to install the curtain system. Lucky for me, Osage County, Missouri, has a good number of poultry farmers that use curtain systems for ventilation. In fact, I was raised on a commercial turkey farm. Therefore, I was fairly confident that the curtain would work since it had been proven to be reliable over the past decade for poultry farmers. A thermostat determines when the hoophouse curtain needs to open or close. The top of the curtain raises to close the curtain and moves down to open it. The movement of the curtain is the opposite of most roll-up sidewalls. This design provides the advantage of keeping the cold air and wind off the plants whenever the curtain opens. During the spring and fall season while the plants are growing and need temperature control, the curtain system keeps the temperature within a 5-7 degree variance of the thermostat.

At about the same time, I contacted the closest solar energy vendor to design and build the solar power unit. Henry Rentz of Missouri Valley Renewable Resource is also somewhat new to starting his own business and is very motivated in promoting solar energy. In an effort to cut my cost, Henry located rebuilt electronic components and used batteries. The unit uses batteries as a backup for extended periods without sun. The system then uses an inverter to convert the DC energy to AC energy. The end result is a system that has proven to be reliable and low maintenance. It has operated well even after nine days of cloudy weather. The solar power unit is housed in a small building to protect the system from extremes of temperature with solar panels on the roof. As you can see from the photo, the building resembles an outhouse, which leads to the most common question of unsuspecting and uninformed drive-by motorists, “Why does your outhouse have solar panels?” The obvious answer of course is that they power the seat warmers and the entertainment center (TV, VCR, etc).

So how about cost? The cost of the curtain system with all new hardware, the actual curtain material, and installation was $1,145. The solar system with all new components and installation would cost in the ballpark of $3,500. Adding the curtain system and power unit is a large up-front cost, but I could not operate the hoophouse without them. Over time the curtain system will save my time and the cost of paying someone else to monitor the hoophouse temperature. The solar power unit also has the potential for additional revenue as a portable power unit for various social functions if it had been built on a small trailer.

The curtain system and the solar building have been in use since May of 2004. In my opinion they have both already proven to work effectively during that time. The temperature variations during the late spring and early fall have tested the system extensively. I think that both the curtain and solar portions of the project will be of interest to anyone trying to use a hoophouse without always being present. Part-time or full-time, I like this business of producing my own product my own way, and this system gives me an extension of that independence.

Bryan Boeckmann is the owner of Rocky Top Farm in Westphalia, Missouri. He can be reached at 573-455-2557 or you may email him at rockytop@osagecon.missouri.org.

Resources
For side curtains, Bryan recommends you check on the internet for used or new poultry equipment suppliers.
Two Missouri suppliers of curtains are Miller Farm Equipment, 573-897-2452; and Russell Kever, 573-897-4668.
Bryan’s solar contractor was Missouri Valley Renewable Energy, 573-486-5709; henry@movre.com.