EQIP High Tunnel Kit Checklist 2026–27: What the County Inspection Actually Requires (and What Vendor Pages Leave Out)

What the Pennsylvania NRCS page requires

Check these off with your planner. The first five lines are quotations. The rest are producer-cost and siting notes from the same page.

1. 1. The high tunnel structure is planned, designed, and constructed from a manufactured kit in accordance with the manufacturers’ recommendations.
2. 2. To receive assistance for high tunnels, applicants must be agricultural producers, and use commercially manufactured high tunnel kits.
3. 3. According to NRCS practice standards a seasonal high tunnel is a structure, at least six feet in height…
4. 4. When using a polyethylene cover, a minimum 6-mil greenhouse grade, UV-resistant material is required.
5. 5. When growing crops in an NRCS high tunnel they must be grown in the natural soil profile, not on tables or benches, in pots, or hydroponically. Crops can be grown in raised beds, as long as the beds are no more than 12 inches in depth.
6. 6. Heating, cooling, and electrical work are at the producer’s expense on the Pennsylvania page.
7. 7. A four-year lifespan is assumed; repair and replacement during that period are at the producer’s cost.
8. 8. Slope should not exceed 5%.
9. 9. Covers should be removed or rolled at the end of the season unless the structure is designed for snow load.
10. 10. Programs named on the page: EQIP or AMA.

Bow spacing: what USDA Pennsylvania does not say

The Pennsylvania NRCS page does not state a 4-foot bow spacing. If someone tells you “USDA requires 4-foot bows,” ask them which document they are reading.

Farmers Friend’s NRCS grant guide — vendor language, not USDA Pennsylvania — says “Bow spacing should be a maximum of 4 feet.” Source: farmersfriend.com/learn/nrcs-high-tunnel-grant.

Several kits in the table below advertise 4-foot spacing on their own product pages (Rimol, Haven, Guardian, Glacier, both Tunnel Vision Hoops widths, GreenhouseKits1). Both Bootstrap Farmer pages are silent on bow spacing. Silence is shown as an em dash.

Warnings before you order

• Reimbursement is usually after you buy and pass inspection

  Do not treat a ranking letter as a rebate at checkout. Ask the county when money actually moves.

• A DIY PVC hoop house does not qualify

  The Pennsylvania page requires a commercially manufactured kit. Home-built pipe-and-poly is not that.

• Used kits usually will not qualify

  A manufactured-kit rule is not a green light for a secondhand frame. Ask the county before you buy used.

• Heaters, benches, and most utilities are generally not cost-shared

  The Pennsylvania page puts HVAC and electrical at producer expense. Benches and pots are outside the cropping method it describes.

Kit spec table (copied 30 August 2026, about 01:47 UTC)

Every number has a source URL. A vendor NRCS claim is that vendor’s sentence, not a county ranking. Full price lists live on the kit index.

Six questions for the county office

Write the answers in the boxes. Bring this printout. Do not let a vendor sales page answer these for you.

1. 1. What is this year’s ranking or application cutoff date in this county?

   EQIP is competitive. A kit sitting on a pallet does not create a contract.

   County answer
2. 2. Does this county pay a historically underserved (HU) advance, and is it 50% of the contracted amount?

   Some offices can advance funds. The Pennsylvania page does not replace a county answer.

   County answer
3. 3. After I purchase the kit, what is the deadline to have it installed and inspected?

   Reimbursement is usually after purchase and inspection. Ask before you order.

   County answer
4. 4. How does this office treat the taxability of a reimbursement, and who should I ask besides NRCS?

   NRCS staff are not your tax advisor. Still ask how they describe it locally.

   County answer
5. 5. Do you need a vendor letter stating the kit is commercially manufactured and meets the practice you are writing?

   Some offices want paper from the manufacturer. Vendor marketing copy is not that letter.

   County answer
6. 6. What practice code and name are you writing this year for a seasonal high tunnel?

   Producers and vendors often say “325” or “325R.” Confirm the code your county is actually using.

   County answer

FAQ

Can I build a DIY high tunnel and still get EQIP?

Not under the Pennsylvania NRCS page we retrieved. That page says applicants must use commercially manufactured high tunnel kits, planned and constructed from a manufactured kit per the manufacturer’s recommendations. A home-built PVC or lumber hoop house is not a commercially manufactured kit. Rules vary; call your county NRCS office.

Does the kit include lumber?

Often no. Several kits in this comparison ship steel hip, base, or brackets and tell you to buy 2×4s or 2×6s locally. Bootstrap Farmer’s Round All-Metal page states steel hip, base, and end walls (no lumber). Essential Gothic tells you to source hip, base, and end-wall lumber locally. Rimol Basic includes brackets, not lumber. Glacier’s page says 2×4s, end walls, roll-up, and door are not included. Read the lumber row in the spec table — we copied each vendor page rather than assuming “kit” means a finished building.

If the page says “free shipping,” is freight actually free?

Only if that product page says so for the kit itself. Bootstrap Farmer’s Round All-Metal page states free shipping to the contiguous United States. Essential Gothic states free shipping over $75* but does not explicitly say kit freight is free to the lower 48. Rimol lists required zoned freight on top of the Basic package. Glacier quotes freight separately and wants a 70-ft semi on site. Farmers Friend states free delivery to the contiguous USA, customer unloads a pallet, liftgate extra if accepted. GreenhouseKits1 is free terminal-to-terminal; you pick up at the terminal within a day. Tunnel Vision Hoops quotes freight by ZIP. “Free shipping” on a storewide banner is not the same sentence as “this kit’s motor freight is prepaid.”