Federal Partnership Helps Expand Innovative Protected Agriculture Research At UNH

UNH collaborates with the USDA to advance research vital for food production in New England

The University of New Hampshire is launching a collaboration with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to significantly expand a cornerstone of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station’s (NHAES) research program: protected agriculture. The new $2M partnership formed in response to a growing need for research to support small-scale producers, whose adoption of new technologies and innovative management practices is critical to the security of local and regional food systems in the Northeast.

“We see the ARS collaboration as a major step toward elevating the science that will enable Northeastern growers to make more informed on-farm decisions,” says Anton Bekkerman, director of the NHAES and associate dean of research in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. “The innovations and management improvements from this work will improve productivity and crop quality while minimizing risks to both farmers and food consumers.”

Protected agriculture encompasses an array of production technologies that enable farmers to increase production, lower risks from weather, pests, and disease, and extend growing seasons. While some applications, such as high-tech greenhouses that provide complete production control, require large up-front investments, others like row covers and high tunnels are much more affordable and can be readily implemented on the small- and medium-sized farms that are prevalent in New England.

Regardless of the type of protected agriculture management, it enables farmers to grow more food within smaller production footprints, diversify crops, and improve crop quality — all critical to food system resilience in states like New Hampshire, where only about 3% of the food consumed is grown locally.

“Granite State farmers and growers are critical to our food supply and local economies,” says Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who supported the funding effort at the federal level. “The University of New Hampshire’s new collaboration with the Department of Agriculture is just the latest example of how UNH is driving innovation to bolster our state’s agriculture industry. I look forward to continuing to support this critical research during my final year in the Senate.”

UNH will partner with the ARS station in Wooster, Ohio, which has a strong research program into protected agriculture. At UNH, the partnership will support a significant increase in the number of researchers working in plant sciences as well as providing new opportunities for current researchers.

Becky Sideman, professor of horticulture and chair in the department of agriculture, nutrition, and food systems, and an expert in cold-climate horticulture and protected agriculture systems will be leading UNH’s efforts in the partnership.

“It’s huge,” says Sideman of the collaboration. “This kind of support can be transformative. We’re able to hire new researchers and support postdoctoral associates and graduate students, increasing our capacity to do research. And current faculty can pursue great ideas that our existing resources previously didn’t allow.”

Innovative research at UNH in the 1970s and 1980s led to the widespread adoption of high tunnels by farmers in New Hampshire and New England. Decades later, these early adopters are facing challenges with soil fertility, pest control, and other issues within the protected systems before those in other areas of the country. Ongoing research will help provide answers and solutions to these challenges while mitigating risk. The UNH–ARS collaboration will expedite knowledge and practical recommendations that farmers can add to their toolkits to be more effective users of protected agriculture technologies and management approaches.

“In the Northeast there isn’t a single agricultural system applied on a vast scale—it’s not possible here,” says Sideman. “That’s what makes it both challenging and wonderful. Growers aren’t locked into any one system, so there are many opportunities to diversify and meet the demand for good local food. We’re looking to provide the insights needed for them to succeed.”