Crave a fresh, locally-grown tomato and cucumber salad? In July? In Upstate New York?

A small, but increasing number of vegetable growers are making consumer dreams like early season fresh and local produce a reality, thanks to high tunnels and other innovations.

“There’s a demand locally for early season tomatoes,” said Howard Hoover, owner of Evergreen Farm in Penn Yan, located about 55 miles southeast of Rochester.

Hoover picked bell peppers for market during the last week of June, well ahead of the plants’ typical peak season in mid- August. The demand for early fresh produce is one that consumers appear willing to pay for. The Hoovers reported receiving $15 per half-bushel for early season bell peppers last year, compared to $4 per half-bushel at peak season.

Growing vegetables, fruit and nursery plants inside high tunnels gives growers a jumpstart on the harvest season. High tunnels are metal frame structures covered in heavy plastic. Vegetables are planted directly in the ground. Tunnels capture the sun’s natural heat and light and, unlike greenhouses, typically don’t use artificial light or heat.

High tunnel advocates say produce tastes like garden-grown food.

Evergreen Farm is among eight vegetable, fruit and nursery plant operations across the state participating in an applied research project funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute. In late 2005, the institute committed $122,000 to a two-year effort to compare yields of produce varieties, explore rotational plant combinations, test the costs and ability to trap heat among various plastics, provide business data, study disease/pest occurrence and control, and other unknowns related to high tunnel-growing.

The Farm Viability Institute is a farmerled nonprofit organization that directs onfarm applied research to increase farm profits.

“High tunnels offer growers the opportunity to extend our marketing season both early and late in upstate New York, to create a more viable production area to compete with out-of-state regions,’’ said Larry Eckhardt, a member of the NYFVI board of directors.

Eckhardt, who is a vegetable grower in Rensselaer County, added, “the Farm Viability Institute saw a great value in helping other growers realize the potential of extending the season."

In addition to an extended growing season, farmers report larger yields in high tunnels.

“High tunnels remove a lot of the unpredictability of the vegetable business,” Hoover said.

“We don’t have to worry about hail or heavy rain. We can still work when the rain turns the fields muddy.”

The Hoovers erected their first high tunnel in 2001. Higher profits from vegetables convinced the family to put up another high tunnel the following year. The farm added a third high tunnel for the 2007 growing season. Hoover said the net profit on vegetables grown under three high tunnels —comprising less than a quarter-acre — is close to the net from the 20 acres of vegetables he grows in fields.

“High tunnels bring more consistency and order to the production,” said Judson Reid, a vegetable specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension. “In the field, there are more wild swings in production.”

High tunnels are not without drawbacks, including a need for more weeding, pruning and watering. The expense of high tunnels deters others. Costs vary depending on whether a grower is purchasing a readymade model or building a tunnel.

Because the technology is relatively new, economic data is still being collected. A Cooperative Extension project among Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri researchers estimated high tunnel costs to run $.75- $1.50 per square foot, compared to $6 per square foot for a greenhouse. Those costs are for the structures, before adding any accessories, such as watering lines.

“People think, ‘why would you build a tunnel when you can plant something in the ground and it will grow anyway?’" Hoover said. “Having these tunnels puts us a bit on the leading edge, but it is coming. There’s a huge interest in tunnels.”

A growing season with sunny but cooler days — like the start of the 2007 season — provides an argument in favor of high tunnel technology.

Reid said he knew of two dozen high tunnels new in the past five years in the Finger Lakes region.

Evergreen Farm started a complimentary business building the tunnels and has sold 20 in the past four years.

Howard Hoover’s son, Nelson, said the farm has tweaked the designs offered by larger manufacturers to offer high tunnels better-suited to smaller farms in upstate New York. Their model is modular and can be assembled by three people in one day. Evergreen Farm moves its tunnels every two to three years to rotate fields, Nelson Hoover said.

The Hoovers build tunnels with a four feet span between the ceiling ribs, meant to bear the weight of snow. Evergreen’s tunnels are fitted with battery-operated rollup sides that can be connected to a temperature gauge to rise automatically on the hottest days. Some other models must be rolled by hand, which can require more than one person.

The Hoovers said they use a low-pesticide approach. Early results from pest study suggest high tunnels present a different set of concerns than in the field. Spider mites and thrips are more common in Evergreen’s tunnels than fields, and the reverse seems true of downy mildew and striped cucumber beetles.

Evergreen sells produce primarily to wholesale buyers, although the Hoovers work two farmers markets near home. Both buyers are reassured to learn the Hoovers employ low-pesticide practices, Howard Hoover said.

Retail customers ask if the vegetables were grown in the ground or in containers, he said. High tunnels allow the farm to meet customer demand for produce grown under conditions similar to an old-fashioned garden.