Northwest Oranges: Why Not?

Idaho oranges Photo by Guy Hand

An Idaho Orange Tree

I’ve got greenhouses on the brain — thanks to some Idaho oranges.

Imagine walking through a field of brittle, mid-winter stubble, a sky the color of cement, the wind biting at the back of your neck.  Ahead a nondescript greenhouse sits like so many greenhouses on the Snake River Plain this time of year: translucent, gray and most likely empty.  But as you open the door the Equator seems to leap north by latitudes.  Your smacked with warm, moist air thick with the sweet scent of oranges.  In front of you stands a full-sized orange tree — an Idaho orange tree — and it’s filled with fat, juicy fruit.

I stumbled onto that orange tree near Hagerman, Idaho (and a forest’s worth of tangerine, lemon, lime, fig, grapefruit and other citrus trees in other greenhouses) while working on an Edible Idaho public radio story on Idaho’s Bounty.  Idaho’s Bounty is a local food distribution system and James Reed, one of the project’s founders, was showing me the potential for growing local food during a season when most fresh fruits and produce come from California, Florida and who the hell knows where.

Reed explained to me that southern Idaho has huge, untapped potential for growing many of its own winter crops.  Thanks to tons of hot springs, the state already has a wealth of geothermal-heated greenhouses.  Problem is, they’re mostly used for growing ornamental flowers and bedding plants.  That’s simply where the profits are.

Reed would like to change that.  He’s growing greens in his own green house and along with Merrily Eckel, who owns the green houses full of citrus trees, they’re selling fresh fruit and produce through Idaho’s Bounty (for more on Idaho’s Bounty listen to Edible Idaho on KBSX 91.5 on Monday, January 4th or online at www.nwfoodnews.com).  It’s a small but compelling step toward weening the state from long-distant sources of winter food.  (The economic hurdles are daunting, but the food’s freshness is undeniable.)

Hoop house or high tunnel

Hoop Houses and the USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also thinking greenhouses.  The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced on December 16th that they’ve created a cost share pilot program “for farmers to establish high tunnels – also known as hoop houses – to increase the availability of locally grown produce in a conservation-friendly way.”

High tunnels and hoop houses are low-cost greenhouses.  As the USDA puts it:

“Made of ribs of plastic or metal pipe covered with a layer of plastic sheeting, high tunnels are easy to build, maintain and move. High tunnels are used year-round in parts of the country, providing steady incomes to farmers – a significant advantage to owners of small farms, limited-resource farmers and organic producers.

There is great potential for high tunnels to expand the availability of healthy, locally-grown crops – a win for producers and consumers,” said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. “This pilot project is going to give us real-world information that farmers all over the country can use to decide if they want to add high tunnels to their operations. We know that these fixtures can help producers extend their growing season and hopefully add to their bottom line.”

Thirty-eight states are registered for the program.  In the Northwest, they include Washington, Wyoming and Montana.  Idaho isn’t currently participating — and that makes Idaho farmer Lee Rice worry:

“As many other states increase their local production and local sales of specialty crops, that in turn will diminish demand for those crops from other states like say potatoes and onions from Idaho.  States like Idaho should be looking long term at replacing those lost sales by promoting more local production . . .”

Rice makes an important point.  If other states begin producing and consuming their own local food, the demand for food shipped from elsewhere could weaken.  With less demand, the nonsensical economics that now make it cheaper to import food rather than grow it could begin to unravel.

Idaho oranges Photo by Guy Hand

Of course, it’s complicated.  Trade rules, political and corporate clout, misguided incentives all make the seemingly logical act of growing food locally far less than simple. Still, that greenhouse orange tree has a simple logic of its own.  If an orange tree can root in the Idaho, where does the potential for local food end?

Here’s a new article on how midwesterners are using greenhouses to grow food during the winter: http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/12/28/eliot-coleman/

Tags: agriculture, citrus trees, food, greenhouses, hoop houses, Idaho, Idaho's Bounty, local food movement, locavore, orange trees, sustainable agriculture, tall tunnels, USDA