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> Our farm has mainly been hay producing for fifty years For those who don't know, Boulder has a bunch of land outside the city that is designated openspace/'f

> Our farm has mainly been hay producing for fifty years For those who don't know, Boulder has a bunch of land outside the city that is designated openspace/'farm' land. Being from the midwest I always sort of laughed at these land parcels being called 'farms' since economically it really can't be farmed outside of selling niche products at affluent farmers markets. I am glad to see that Boulder is finally letting the land be used for something more productive. And this is a very cool idea. My family grew strawberries in eastern Colorado for a few years and one of the big problems was the extreme sun. In order to extend the growing season we used low tunnels to shield to plants from frost. However, the low tunnels during the peak summer months would act like a lens melting irrigation lines and even damaging produce.

poulsbohemian 5y ago
Did you experiment at all with swapping out different materials? IE: using a thicker material to shade from the sun and then something else in the fall to hold in warmth. I’m debating doing something similar in my garden. In my area we have a lot of orchards that are now completely under sun canopies due to our extreme heat / sun.
- prawn 5y ago
  A major modern greenhouse operation I saw recently dealt with this by spraying the exterior with some sort of chalk solution (I think). Just made the glass panels look slightly opaque. Then they'd wash it off when they needed more light through. In this case, there was generally less rain when they wanted the solar protection, so they didn't have to worry about it washing off out of schedule too often.
sneak 5y ago
Is it just me or is not letting the rightful owners of the land use it for the most productive (and not damaging/harmful/polluting) thing possible seem insane? Why does Boulder get to decide whether these farmers are allowed to install solar on their own land? The fact that they had to fight a battle and take time out of their life to obtain permission to do this (on unprofitable farmland) seems tremendously unjust. My mind reels.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- someguydave 5y ago
  In America (land of the free) it is considered normal for all the surrounding landowners and/or voters to decide how you may use your own property. Typically you must ask permission or change local laws to use land in other-than-narrowly-prescribed ways.
  - wyager 5y ago
    Since land covenants were legally neutered in the 60s, law is sort of the only avenue people have left for trying to make sure the community they live in is the kind of place they actually want to live, and doesn't turn into a factory district or a ghetto.
    - staticautomatic 5y ago
      You forgot about trusts. And HOAs. Also, CC&Rs are still a thing.
      - wyager 5y ago
        They exist but you can't do much with them anymore, hence why zoning is such a popular strategy.
  - sneak 5y ago
    Seems to me that "land of the status quo" might be a better term.
    - someguydave 5y ago
      that or “land of I got mine”
  - ProjectArcturis 5y ago
    Personally I'm rather glad my neighbor can't turn his property into an industrial hog farm.
pengaru 5y ago
> My family grew strawberries in eastern Colorado for a few years and one of the big problems was the extreme sun. In order to extend the growing season we used low tunnels to shield to plants from frost. However, the low tunnels during the peak summer months would act like a lens melting irrigation lines and even damaging produce. Sounds like problems more ground-coupling of the thermals would help mitigate. This guy used "Earth Tubes" in combination with partially buried and appropriately oriented greenhouses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk
KennyBlanken 5y ago
> Being from the midwest I always sort of laughed at these land parcels being called 'farms' since economically it really can't be farmed outside of selling niche products at affluent farmers markets The midwest can't be economically farmed outside of being propped up by a trillion dollars in government welfare called "the farm bill." That includes paying farmers to not grow anything, and to grow food that is shipped to warehouses where it rots. Then there's all the non-farming federal spending in those states. Then there's all the military spending to employ all the midwest kids coming out of high school with no job prospects. Then there's the tariffs and other trade policies to protect midwestern farm crop prices. Then there's the mandated use of ethanol from corn in gasoline. Then there's the price fixing on sugar which drives processed food to use corn syrup. Also, he farm was a hay farm for fifty years goes a bit contrary to the claim about "niche products ad affluent farmers markets."

poulsbohemian 5y ago

Did you experiment at all with swapping out different materials? IE: using a thicker material to shade from the sun and then something else in the fall to hold in warmth. I’m debating doing something similar in my garden. In my area we have a lot of orchards that are now completely under sun canopies due to our extreme heat / sun.

prawn 5y ago
A major modern greenhouse operation I saw recently dealt with this by spraying the exterior with some sort of chalk solution (I think). Just made the glass panels look slightly opaque. Then they'd wash it off when they needed more light through. In this case, there was generally less rain when they wanted the solar protection, so they didn't have to worry about it washing off out of schedule too often.

sneak 5y ago

Is it just me or is not letting the rightful owners of the land use it for the most productive (and not damaging/harmful/polluting) thing possible seem insane? Why does Boulder get to decide whether these farmers are allowed to install solar on their own land? The fact that they had to fight a battle and take time out of their life to obtain permission to do this (on unprofitable farmland) seems tremendously unjust. My mind reels.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
someguydave 5y ago
In America (land of the free) it is considered normal for all the surrounding landowners and/or voters to decide how you may use your own property. Typically you must ask permission or change local laws to use land in other-than-narrowly-prescribed ways.
- wyager 5y ago
  Since land covenants were legally neutered in the 60s, law is sort of the only avenue people have left for trying to make sure the community they live in is the kind of place they actually want to live, and doesn't turn into a factory district or a ghetto.
  - staticautomatic 5y ago
    You forgot about trusts. And HOAs. Also, CC&Rs are still a thing.
    - wyager 5y ago
      They exist but you can't do much with them anymore, hence why zoning is such a popular strategy.
- sneak 5y ago
  Seems to me that "land of the status quo" might be a better term.
  - someguydave 5y ago
    that or “land of I got mine”
- ProjectArcturis 5y ago
  Personally I'm rather glad my neighbor can't turn his property into an industrial hog farm.

pengaru 5y ago

> My family grew strawberries in eastern Colorado for a few years and one of the big problems was the extreme sun. In order to extend the growing season we used low tunnels to shield to plants from frost. However, the low tunnels during the peak summer months would act like a lens melting irrigation lines and even damaging produce. Sounds like problems more ground-coupling of the thermals would help mitigate. This guy used "Earth Tubes" in combination with partially buried and appropriately oriented greenhouses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk

KennyBlanken 5y ago

> Being from the midwest I always sort of laughed at these land parcels being called 'farms' since economically it really can't be farmed outside of selling niche products at affluent farmers markets The midwest can't be economically farmed outside of being propped up by a trillion dollars in government welfare called "the farm bill." That includes paying farmers to not grow anything, and to grow food that is shipped to warehouses where it rots. Then there's all the non-farming federal spending in those states. Then there's all the military spending to employ all the midwest kids coming out of high school with no job prospects. Then there's the tariffs and other trade policies to protect midwestern farm crop prices. Then there's the mandated use of ethanol from corn in gasoline. Then there's the price fixing on sugar which drives processed food to use corn syrup. Also, he farm was a hay farm for fifty years goes a bit contrary to the claim about "niche products ad affluent farmers markets."