Snohomish County farmers try out South Korea greenhouse film
A company in South Korea developed a new greenhouse film that could improve growing conditions. Snohomish County farmers are testing it to see how well it works.
SunXel (pronounced sun cell) brought a dozen rolls of its nursery film to be used for greenhouses at farms throughout the Snohomish watershed. CEO Ingyu Kim described it as a smart film that controls temperatures inside the greenhouse for a better environment for growing crops.
Snohomish County agriculture coordinator Linda Neunzig said the film will go to 12 farms damaged by December’s floods and it will go to different varieties of farms.
“As we’re doing proof of concept, we can find where it works best,” Neunzig said. The film would have a positive impact on farmers by keeping greenhouses cooler in hot weather and warmer during the cooler early spring and late fall, which will increase production by extending the growing season and not stressing plants.
She said the crops grown in greenhouses using SunXel’s film will be compared with crops grown in greenhouses using traditional film and crops that are grown outside. The monitoring will last until harvest time.
Sensors will be installed that will monitor temperature, moisture of the soil as well as the nutrients, Neunzig said. Innov8.ag is a contractor for the Ag Tech Program oversees the sensors involved with the nursery film study, Neunzig said.
Snohomish County’s Ag Tech Program is a county initiative that brings technology and data-driven insights to farmers. Because of the funding of the program, it is available to commercial farmers operating in the Snohomish watershed, according to the Ag Tech Program website.
The Ag Tech Program offers geospatial mapping, variable rate technology, soil moisture sensors and access to Burros, which are LiDAR-equipped, autonomous driving vehicles.
Kim added he’s brought the film to Malawi, Qatar, Korea, and he plans to visit Kenya, Tanzania, and Thailand.
He complimented the partnership between Snohomish County, SunXel, Brinc (technology accelerator business) and South Korea’s Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food Agriculture and Forestry.
Food Bank Farm, located on around 12 acres within the confines of Chinook Farm near Snohomish, received a roll of the film. Food Bank Farm is a ministry of the Episcopal Church of Holy Cross in Redmond.
“I grew up a farmer, and I loved it in an area where farms were collapsing,” Father Jim Eichner, associate rector at Holy Cross said. He established Food Bank Farm in 2012, and it provides fresh produce to Northwest Harvest, and Food Lifeline. Volunteers from HopeLink grow vegetables in greenhouses.
Food Bank Farm lost nine greenhouses during December’s floods. “The flood in December was nothing like we’ve prepared before,” Eichner said. Then, flooding returned in March where water height reached waist high.
He added everything was strewn around and a container took out a fenceline.
Despite the damage, he said the farm is in “pretty good shape.” Volunteers have been working since January and February and starts are growing in the farm’s remaining greenhouses.
“I think we’ll make it,” Eichner said.
