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Western Region Profile: Don Bustos
Saved by the Sun
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New Mexico grower Don Buston
uses a solar-heated greenhouse allowing him to farm year round.
- Photo by Victor Espinoza, MNSU |
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Perched at the edge of the Sonoran desert, Don Bustos’ family
farm has always been endowed with ample sunshine and daylight. However,
the New Mexico grower had long been bedeviled by cool temperatures
that limit the growing season to 4–5 months. With rising costs
hampering his ability to support his family in the off-season, Bustos
decided to tap nature’s own unlimited and free energy source:
the sun.
Heating a greenhouse with solar power was a logical choice for
Bustos, who incorporates principles of sustainability throughout
his three and a half acres of certified organic land in the small
town of Santa Cruz. “I wanted to be more light on the earth
and use energy more consciously,” said Bustos, who farms more
than 72 varieties of horticultural crops, including blackberries,
raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, peppers and braising
greens.
Bustos also had a powerful economic incentive: One winter, he received
a $700 gas bill for one month’s heat for the greenhouse. After
researching solar options, Bustos eventually decided to install
a root-zone thermal heating system, partially funded by a SARE grant.
To minimize costs, Bustos picked up recycled solar collectors
from a building demolition site. The panels sit 12 feet from the
greenhouse, facing due south, and at a 45-degree angle to maximize
exposure to the winter sun. The panels are able to generate enough
heat to raise a glycol/water mix to approximately 200 degrees. This
heating fluid runs through a closed-loop system of copper tubing
to an underground tank just a few feet away from the panels. The
tubing is buried to a depth of seven feet to take advantage of the
earth’s natural insulating properties. A heat exchanger raises
the tank’s water temperature to 180 degrees. The water then
flows through the plastic tubes under the greenhouse’s beds,
raising root-zone soil temperatures to a comfortable 48–52
degrees.
The first season was extremely successful, cutting annual heating
costs from $2,000 to zero, and increasing yields 30–40 percent
above that from the standard cold frame. The only ongoing cost related
to the solar heating system is a $5 monthly electricity charge for
the two pumps that circulate the heated water from the underground
tank through the greenhouse.
Thanks to the solar-heated system, Bustos now can produce a steady
supply of salad greens, arugula, Swiss chard, kale, carrots and
radishes from October to March, even when outside temperatures drop
below freezing. During the most frigid nights, Bustos blankets the
beds with sheets of polyester, creating heat-retaining igloos. The
system even works in reverse: When the soil is too hot during summer,
Bustos runs the pumps to circulate water, now cooled by the geothermal
properties of underground storage.
Bustos has a solid, local market for his winter crop thanks to
a strong collaboration among the New Mexico Department of Agriculture,
private citizens and farmers that permits the Santa Fe school district
to buy directly from growers. In keeping with his energy-conscious
philosophy, Bustos markets his food year round within 28 miles of
his farm. Bustos is also investigating how to get entirely off the
grid by increasing energy efficiency, expanding the solar panels
to the house and filling his tractors with biodiesel.
For Bustos, the solar greenhouse and the added economic benefit
it provides fit perfectly with his philosophy of keeping the land
in the family. “We wanted the ability to retain our land for
future generations and not have to develop it into houses,”
said Bustos, whose family has farmed the same ground for 400 years.
“We wanted to stay close to what we’ve done. Preserving
our land ties into the spirituality of how we grew up.”
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