High Tunnel Winter Growing Using Heat Recovery Ventilation

Controlling humidity and temperature in high tunnels during the winter is challenging for farmers. This publication describes a trial of a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system as an alternative to traditional open-air ventilation in winter high tunnel production. The project was funded by a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE) Partnership Grant to the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), in collaboration with New Morning Farm. This publication describes the installation of the heat recovery equipment and provides an analysis of data on humidity and temperature in the winter growing tunnels used in the project. Harvest records from the 2015-2016 winter growing season and energy usage data were used to determine what impact, if any, the ventilation system had on profi tability of the winter-grown crops.