Using High Tunnel As a Sustainable Tool for Specialty Crop Production

High tunnel has been used extensively as a sustainable tool for specialty crop (vegetables, fruits and cut flowers) production in China. The three main types of protected structures are low tunnels, high tunnels and solar greenhouses (mainly in north China with very low winter extreme temperatures) in China. An accurate total area of low tunnels and high tunnels is hard to be decided since many are constructed with very low cost and renewable materials (like bamboo and wood) and could be erected or dismantled based on production needs from year to year. The area under solar greenhouse production was over 700,000 ha in 2010. For vegetable production, there were over 4 million ha under protection (including high tunnel) in 2010, which was over 95% of all protected horticulture production in China and over 80% of all protected vegetable production in the world. The main advantages of using high tunnels in specialty crop production include premium prices for out-of-season and out-of-natural-production-area produces, low agrochemical inputs and high quality, which could all be translated to sustainable farmers’ income and consumer satisfaction.