Icelandic farmers' secret ingredient: volcanoes

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40 points·adrian_mrd··5 comments

Considering the proximity to European markets (and maybe East Coast US as well) and the abundance of potential for geothermal energy in Iceland, I would have thought this would have been a fairly worthwhile thing for Iceland to invest in.

As an comparison, wouldn't this do better that what the Netherlands using glasshouses heated by imported natural gas?

I'm from Southern Italy and I had tomatoes in Iceland years ago. I wouldn't call them particularly juicy. Or flavorful, for that matter. I've often noticed how the further North you go, the least flavor in the produce. Maybe they have figured better techniques and species since I was there, but even if you put that aside, Iceland is just so small and so far from most of the continent that it's always going to have a cost handicap. For the record, I love the country and food was the only sore point visiting there.

> I'm from Southern Italy

I think that your starting point for food has a reasonable claim for being the best in the world. I’m pretty sure everywhere is going to struggle.

> so small and so far from most of the continent that it's always going to have a cost handicap

Iceland has very high labor prices. Anything that needs a lot of human labor isn't going to be worthwhile as an export from Iceland. Tomatoes need picking and packaging by hand still, and while that's the case, it'll never be a major exporter.

More exactly geothermal energy heats and lights the greenhouses in winter aided by automation and a drive to more self-sustainability given during volcanic eruptions was imports may cease.

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