Classic Caterpillar Tunnel

14-ft wide

14 feet wide

16-ft wide

16 feet wide

1 ⅜” out­side diameter

14-ft wide

28 feet wide

6‑mil green­house plastic

4-year rat­ing

16-ft wide

32 feet wide

6‑mil green­house plastic

4‑year rat­ing

Our tun­nels meet the basic 325R National NRCS spec­i­fi­ca­tions. Ultimately, you should con­tact your local NRCS rep and pro­vide our instal­la­tion man­u­al found at the top of this page and the spec sheet(s) attached to our knowl­edge base arti­cle, ​“Do your tun­nels meet NRCS spec­i­fi­ca­tions?” for their review. Also, check out the NRCS guide below for step by step instruc­tions on how to apply!

NRCS Documents and Guides

• 5 Steps to Assistance — How to get assis­tance from NRCS for farms, ranch­es, and forests.
• 16-ft Tunnel Specs Letter — A doc­u­ment with the spec­i­fi­ca­tions of our 16-ft tunnels.
• 14-ft Tunnel Specs Letter — A doc­u­ment with the spec­i­fi­ca­tions of our 14-ft tunnels.

The Caterpillar tun­nels are shipped on a 4×8 wood­en pal­let via motor freight (an 18 wheel trac­tor trail­er). Depending on the order, some­times mul­ti­ple tun­nels can fit on one pallet.

You will receive a pro num­ber for track­ing from Farmers Friend when your ship­ment is picked up from our facil­i­ty. It is rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact the car­ri­er pri­or to deliv­ery to make arrange­ments for time and date. There is some flex­i­bil­i­ty in date and time of deliv­ery, but cus­tomers in remote areas should accept deliv­ery at the car­ri­ers con­ve­nience to avoid exces­sive delays or extra charges.

Prior to mov­ing or unload­ing, please take pic­tures of the order. This is in case items are miss­ing or dam­aged we have a way to ver­i­fy con­tents and con­di­tion. We rec­om­mend con­duct­ing an inven­to­ry of the ship­ment with your includ­ed pack­ing list as soon as pos­si­ble after unloading.

As far as unload­ing, it is the cus­tomer’s respon­si­bil­i­ty. The car­ri­er will not have a fork­lift to unload. A fork­lift or trac­tor with forks is not required, as the ship­ment can be unloaded by hand with two peo­ple. Simply break the bands and remove the pack­ag­ing. The indi­vid­u­als unload­ing should be capa­ble of team-lift­ing 130 pounds. Out of con­sid­er­a­tion for the car­ri­er, we request you pre­pare to unload as quick­ly as possible.

Farmers Friend will not autho­rize the use of any lift­gate ser­vices, and they are not includ­ed in any ship­ping charges, nor is it includ­ed with free ship­ping. If the local ter­mi­nal or dri­ver offers lift gate ser­vices, do not accept them for any rea­son as there will be an addi­tion­al charge billed to you from Farmers Friend at $150.

There is no offi­cial wind rat­ing on our tun­nels. The cater­pil­lar tun­nel is designed to be a move­able struc­ture. Therefore, it is inher­ent­ly not made to with­stand high winds.

A tun­nels abil­i­ty to with­stand wind is based on at least 6 factors:

1. Soil type
2. Water Saturation
3. Bracing
4. Anchoring Selection
5. Wind Direction
6. Customer Installation

Soft soils have less grip on the anchor­ing mate­ri­als, while more com­pact soils hold better.

Related to soil type is ground sat­u­ra­tion. How wet is the soil at the time of said wind event? Saturated soil will be more like­ly to let go of the anchors.

The stan­dard cater­pil­lar tun­nel is sta­bi­lized by a nylon purlin strap. Accessories that increase rigid­i­ty while main­tain­ing the cater­pil­lar attribute of move­able are: Solid Center Purlin, Wind Bracing, and Spring Wire.

Anchoring options that exist for cater­pil­lar tun­nels are rebar, cement­ed ground posts, and Earth Anchors. Rebar is the most eco­nom­i­cal indus­try stan­dard effec­tive in mod­er­ate winds. Cemented ground posts elim­i­nates the Caterpillar Tunnel strength of tem­po­rary, but pro­vides a rock sol­id foun­da­tion. Earth Anchors are an expen­sive ground screw option that holds like con­crete but is eas­i­ly removed and reused.

Tunnels have also been report­ed as hav­ing prob­lems with the plas­tic being blown to one side from broad­side winds. Spring wire is a solu­tion to aid in pre­vent­ing this occurrence.

Customer instal­la­tion is the final fac­tor. Assuming all instruc­tions are fol­lowed and instal­la­tion is cor­rect, the stan­dard tun­nel can with­stand light winds and mod­er­ate gusts.

With all that said, our stan­dard tun­nels have with­stood winds up to 50+ miles per hour. In the cas­es where sim­i­lar winds have dam­aged tun­nels, the six fac­tors must be analyzed.

The pru­dent grow­er would do well to eval­u­ate these six fac­tors in light of their bud­get, short and long-term farm plan, and spe­cif­ic grow­ing context.