
Icelandic farmers' secret ingredient: volcanoes - adrian_mrd
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/iceland-harnesses-hot-springs-to-power-year-round-farming
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sooper
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?

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the-rc
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.

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londons_explore
> 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.

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mc32
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.

