Nevada High School horticulture and plant science students traveled to the Denny and Ryan Harrison high tunnel structure to learn more about producing fruits and vegetables in an extended growing season.
The Harrisons built the structure with a grant from the NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service), an agency within the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Several classroom lessons revealed the “value beyond school” that the students studied, which included: Effect of increased photosynthesis on fruit and vegetable flavor, types of fertilizers and analysis, watering, apical dominance, determinate and indeterminate plant growth, and scion/rootstock grafting.
The Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers. The goal of the initiative is assisting producers to extend the growing season for high value crops in an environmentally safe manner.