Even a greenhouse can't keep out Mother Nature

From NPR StateImpact: A few weeks ago we reported on the grand opening of a massive 15-acre greenhouse growing tomatoes in the Texas desert. The innovative facility from Village Farms uses little water, lots of diffused light and no soil. It also works by keeping Mother Nature (in the form of pests, floods and drought) out.

But sometimes, she’ll just fight her way back in.

Three Village Farms tomato greenhouses in Marfa suffered major damage during an extreme hailstorm on the night of May 31st. According to the company, about 82 acres of greenhouses were affected. Many of the glass windows that form the roofs were shattered.

“It’s a mess. Nothing’s happened like this before,” says Doug Kling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer with Village Farms. “Occasionally you lose some glass to a bad storm. But nothing like this. The good news is, nobody was hurt.”

Kling says the greenhouse is closed temporarily and the company is calculating how much damage was done.

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