Payback

We are committed to delivering Tunnel solutions that payback in 2 to 3 seasons. Prices for fresh produce are often just too volatile to justify long payback periods.

Raspberries

Protecting raspberries with Haygrove Tunnels gives one of the largest paybacks for growers. Typically yields will be lifted at least 25% to 30% in most climates. Other very important payback benefits for raspberries includes the reduction in wind damage that stunts growth often associated with tall outdoor cane crops and the effects of direct solar radiation which scorches the berries. Scorching is significantly reduced under tunnels especially if the grower selects Light Diffusing Luminance THB polythene.

The following table illustrates the average payback for the spring raspberry variety Tulameen. Overall gain from 5-years of trialling at Haygrove was a +41% gain in income per ha for the tunnelled raspberries compared to the equivalent outdoor crops.

Variety: Tulameen
System: 8m (26’) bays covering a 3 row raspberry crop. Tunnels skinned in March and enclosed with doors and side skirts

Strawberries

Some of the first independent work was undertaken in tunnelled strawberries by Köln-Auweiler Research Station in Germany by Ludger Linnemannstöns. The chart below illustrates the yield from early season Elsanta variety grown in sealed Haygrove Tunnels versus outdoor Elsanta grown under a floating double layer of fleece (row cover) and perforated plastic.

In addition to yield, the major advantage from using Haygrove Tunnels with strawberries is the huge lift in Class One percentage. Often this is increased from 50% to 60% for outdoor strawberries to 85% to 95% for strawberries grown under Tunnels. This is primarily due to the elimination of rain, huge reductions in wet weather diseases such as botrytis and the significantly reduced risks of frost during pollination and fruit set.

Tomatoes

The traditional choice facing tomato growers was whether to grow in expensive climate controlled greenhouses or grow outdoors. The Haygrove Trellis Tunnel now gives growers a much lower cost entry point for growing under protection. The following trial work was undertaken in South Africa by tomato grower, John Williams and is a study that fully costed a Hydroponic Greenhouse, Haygrove Trellis and an outdoor low cost system.

Blueberries

Significant opportunity exists to move crops into earlier or later markets to get better prices. This is especially true for export blueberries. The following example shows the impact of Haygrove Tunnels on the yield and timing of the variety Star.

57% of the Star Variety sold into the earlier market in week 45 and 46 compared to the outdoor crop that yielded in week 47 to 49.

Cherries

For cherries, payback is not normally just measured in yield, earliness or class one percentage gain, but often on the removal of risk. Commonly payback can be achieved in one day through the removal of a catastrophic event such as cracking caused by rain or frost at flowering.

The following chart highlights the impact of the Haygrove Tunnels on an orchard in Pennsylvania where severe rains devastated a ripening crop of Rainier cherries.