PASSIVE VENTILATED HIGH-ROOF GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES IN A HUMID, MILD WINTER CLIMATE

Florida produces $1.8 billion (United States dollar) of vegetables on 160,000 ha of land. All of this production is destined for the fresh market and most of the produce is shipped to Northern United States markets. Most of this vegetable production is grown in the field out of season in the winter months, thus requiring land not prone to freezes. Unfortunately, Florida is becoming highly urbanized with the population exceeding 15.3 million in 2000. The major impact of urbanization has been a loss of Florida’s warmest and most productive lands for winter vegetable production. In 1997, a Florida and Israeli Protected Agriculture Project was initiated in order to take better advantage of land distal from the urbanized coastline. An 8-m high passive-ventilated Israeli-style greenhouse was constructed in north Florida, a minimum of 85 km from either coast. Successful pepper, tomato, cucumber and muskmelon crops were grown as fall-winter and spring-summer crops. With proper shading, heat-sensitive crops could be produced throughout the summer. Moreover, a class of high-quality vegetable crops which could not be produced under typical field conditions in Florida’s climate were produced. These included Galia-type muskmelon, Beit alpha cucumber, cluster tomato, and high-quality colored peppers. Yields from greenhouse crops are generally 10 times more than comparable field-produced crops. 1