Iceland is known for its amazing outdoor sights—glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes and much more—but one of the most amazing experiences of our visit to Iceland was to take a bus, on a February day, from a glacier to a jungle of tomatoes.
Iceland’s winter weather can be brutal, but tomato production (and some other crops) continues year-round indoors, heated by the country’s huge supply of nature-heated thermal energy. They’re grown both for local consumption and especially for export. At one point, in the 1940s, Iceland even grew bananas!
Row by row, the plants are constantly being replaced; as they climb the long strings, new plants are added at lower levels. It’s almost a tomato factory!
But it’s not always smooth sailing for Iceland’s indoor farmers: in 2013, they held a big protest over plans by a Dutch company to grow organic tomatoes for the Dutch and European market, out of concern that if demand in Europe dropped, the plant would be competing for the domestic market.
We were told that bananas had been tried and can be grown, but were not as easily marketable in Europe, which is the main consumer. Don’t know about papayas, though.
Fascinating! I’ve never been inside one of these steamy greenhouses before, although I do remember driving by them on Iceland’s south shore. I’ve heard they still do grow some tropical crops, like papayas and bananas. Not sure if that’s true.