Last Friday Grand Valley State University Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP) celebrated the addition of the SAP hoophouse.

30 feet by 72 feet, the hoophouse will keep temperatures up to 10-15 degrees above the outdoor air temperature, allowing the growing season to extend into the academic year and thus providing an opportunity for more students to learn about sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

In a press release sent out early last week, SAP manager Levi Gardner said a hoophouse is different from a greenhouse in that it works in context with the seasons, and relies solely on passive solar heating and season-specific crops rather than fossil fuels like the traditional greenhouse.

It took more than 200 combined hours over a span of three days to complete the hoophouse, a collaborative effort with support from the Farm Club, Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

To learn more about the Sustainable Agriculture Project, visit http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainableagproject/.