High Tunnels
For information regarding V-Track Tunnels, CLICK HERE.
For Information regarding Pipe Skid Tunnels, CLICK HERE.
For information regarding Hoop Coops, CLICK HERE.
FST High Tunnels
Four Season Tools offers products and services relating to season extension with fixed and movable high tunnels. We use the term "High Tunnel" instead of "Greenhouse", "Hoop House", or "Cold Frame" to emphasize the importance of using a double covering to maximize season extension in unheated passive solar structures. When the top covering, the High Tunnel, is used in conjunction with the inside covering, the Low Tunnel, vegetables can easily survive through the winter.
Movable Systems
Four Season Tools is leading the industry with movable buildings in agriculture. Movable high tunnels have many benefits for the small acreage organic vegetable producer. They facilitate logical crop rotation practices, which builds healthy soil, minimizes disease and pest transmission, and increases productivity. They also reduce the stress of salt accumulation in the soil that is common with stationary high tunnels. Click here for an example of how movable high tunnels can be used for successful crop rotation. Movable high tunnels allow for the usage of season extension technologies for more than a single crop per year, and reduce energy inputs by naturally providing the ideal environment for cold and warm season crops. More crops can be covered in a year, meaning a quicker payback of initial investment, as presented by Eliot Coleman in The New Organic Grower. Movable Hoop Coops also have benefits associated with rotating pasture. These structures allow for healthy pasture development, broad fertilization, limited disease transmission, and greater availability of pasture for livestock. Additionally, Movable Hoop Coops allow for flexibility in farm and pasture development.
Below is a video that describes how movable high tunnels naturally fit into crop rotation systems.
What Makes FST Structures Different
High tunnels are not a side product that we offer. Our aim is to provide high-quality season extension technologies to the small-scale farmer. We have worked with leaders in the industry to create products that are designed around quality and flexibility, rather than price. Our company not only consists of individuals who design and create season extension technologies, but also of those who use these technologies. As a result, we are able to provide expertise of engineers and farmers to maximize the potential of your high tunnel.
We make our frames to be strong and easy to install. We use 2-3/8" OD pipe that is galvanize on the inside and outside. We also feature a gothic style arch, which allows for greater sidewall height without an extreme peak height. While movable structures are naturally more complex than fixed tunnels, we design our structures with the moving system as a focal point, rather than an afterthought. This means we have worked to make the installation of movable systems as simple and easy to install as possible. Additionally, as a small company, we have a strong commitment to customer service and offer a direct line to the engineering staff during the construction of our high tunnels.
Historically, movable high tunnel systems utilized existing high tunnel structures and sourced moving components, which was expensive and inefficient. FST tunnels are the first high tunnels that have been built specifically to move. This includes integrated moving components, as well as substantial additional bracing that is engineered to withstand moving. Our anchoring system provides security that matches that of fixed high tunnels.
We make an effort to support sustainable businesses through our own business practices. The majority of the steel is American-made, provided by Allied Steel and is hand-bent in Missouri. We are vendors for several local businesses, providing Midwestern products and services. We strive to provide high-quality products with a limited environmental impact.
For photos of some of the buildings sold by Four Season Tools, CLICK HERE.
