Greenhouse Protected Agriculture

 

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Video Transcript

Chuck Denney (UT Institute of Agriculture)
Red, ripe and ready to be picked, sliced and eaten. But these maters aren’t hanging from the vine in somebody’s garden, but rather indoors, greenhouse-grown on the UT Ag campus.Plant sciences graduate student Susannah Amundson likes the growing conditions here.

Susannah Amundson (UTIA Graduate Student)
“It’s a highly-controlled system - the ventilation, the temperature, light intensity. Everything can be controlled at exactly the optimal environment for your plant.”

Chuck Denney
This tomato crop is part of the Protected Agriculture program at UT’s Institute of Agriculture. Here scientists are grafting tomato plants to improve yields and taste. They’re also working with other fruits and vegetables - including strawberries, blackberries, and onions. Researchers say when we protect the culture - the growing conditions in other words - it gives farmers the advantage of producing a higher quality crop for consumers.

Dr. Dean Kopsell (UT AgResearch)
“There’s really two ways people can make money in protected culture. One is high volume, and the other one is high value.”

Chuck Denney
UT’s Dr. Dean Kopsell works to enhance the nutritional value of many of our foods.

Dr. Dean Kopsell
“So in essence what we’re really researching is how to make the vegetables you eat better for you. And in doing that, protected culture really lends itself well to that because as we move indoors, we now have control over all the environmental factors that a farmer would have to take for granted out in the field.”

Chuck Denney
As our population grows, we lose land for production agriculture. It stands to reason greenhouse farming will be even more critical for our future food supply - and we’re already seeing a worldwide increase in greenhouse crops. The Protected Ag program focuses on giving farmers reliable information about crops grown in greenhouses, tunnels and other horticultural structures - where conditions are controlled.

Dr. Carl Sams (UT AgResearch)
“I could have easily put strawberries or tomatoes - so it could be your vegetable garden or it can be very pretty.”

Chuck Denney
“So we’re hoping that we’ll gain either disease-resistant or superior yields or superior fruit quality from this.”

Dr. Carl Sams
“These are high value crops that if we can develop the production systems and the technology and show the growers how to do it, there’s an opportunity for them to capture some of that market.”

Chuck Denney
The idea of protected agriculture has been around a while, but look for a greater emphasis on it in the future. After all, you can put a greenhouse just about anywhere. 

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NOTE: UT’s Institute of Agriculture does greenhouse research throughout the state, including at its Plateau AgResearch Center in Crossville.