TH!NK post

This article is archived. Comments are closed.

Are the lights going out on the Icelandic hothouse farming industry?

Published 25th November 2009 - 7 comments - 1932 views -

Iceland hothouseAs I wrote in an earlier post, the global aluminium industry has a strong presence in Iceland due to the country's plentiful and relatively inexpensive green energy. Indeed, a few years ago, Icelandic authorities ventured forth into the world waving a brochure titled “Lowest Energy Prices!!” in an effort to hustle customers – with evident success.

So – just how low ARE those energy prices? The prices that the National Power Company - Landsvirkjun, a company in the public domain, is charging foreign multinational corporations in return for copious amounts of green energy?

The answer is … we don’t know.

We the Icelandic taxpayers, owners of that same National Power Company, do not know what those large multinationals are paying for our common resource, because that information is TOP SECRET.

This is but one of the myriad scandals shaking the foundations of Icelandic society these days. We are not privy to that information because it is deemed “too sensitive”. Which probably means that it’s so cheap that they’re practically giving it away OR so cheap that those aluminium smelters are costing the country more than they’re actually contributing. After all, the Icelandic state has had to invest a massive amount in building the infrastructure to power those smelters, and if what they pay for energy is peanuts … well, it wouldn't take a genius to do the math.

MEANWHILE.

We have something here called the hothouse farming industry. Farmers who grow vegetables in greenhouses year-round. Icelandic veggies, that are infinitely more nutritious, more tasty NOT TO MENTION more eco-friendly than the mass-produced varieties imported from Holland or Spain, because of course “imported” means “flown in” on airplanes spewing greenhouse gases.

Every single Icelander I know would select Icelandic vegetables over and above the imported varieties in a heartbeat. The only problem? THEY ARE SUBSTANTIALLY MORE EXPENSIVE. Despite being domestically produced. Despite the absence of freight costs, tariffs and duties. Why? Because hothouse farmers have to pay such a hefty price for electricity to keep the lights turned on all the time, and those costs obviously get funneled out to the consumer.

For years, hothouse farming was to some degree subsidized in order to make Icelandic vegetables competitive with those produced in other EEA countries. With the recent economic cutbacks, however, those subsidies have been abolished, and now hothouse farmers say they will have to turn off their lights for the better part of the winter – meaning Icelandic vegetables will be unavailable at that time or, worse, some farmers may have to quit altogether.

Hothouse farmers feel that they should be able to buy electricity at the same price as the multinationals. I totally support those demands. And if only I knew how much they have to pay over and above the smelters, I would have a clearer picture of just what I am supporting. I repeat: we do not know what those prices are. The only thing we DO know is that they are lower [and probably a lot lower] than those paid by other users - including those valuable hothouse farmers.

It is intolerable that we are being kept in the dark. And it is insufferable that the people who have been running this country actually encourage consumption of mass-produced, sub-nutritional, eco-harmful vegetables, when they could [and should!] be focusing on fostering local, sustainable industries that both boost public health and help save the planet.

[photo credit]

Category: Greenhouse Gases, | Tags: think2, iceland, hothouse farming, landsvirkjun, climate change,



Comments

Aija Vanaga on 26th November 2009:

This is a good report and I hope you will be able to find out those prices. And you should be able to as the company is public!!!

Paul G on 26th November 2009:

I agree that the energy prices paid to the multinational corporations should be made public and any subsidies should be questioned. But I disagree that because the government has subsidized big industry that it should also subsidize hothouse farming. The issue of carbon footprint/eco-friendly food is more complicated that just looking at food miles. It may may use more resources to produce vegetables in Iceland in heated, artificially lit, intensively farmed greenhouses than to fly in vegetables from Spain that can be grown outdoors in natural light without heating.

Aija Vanaga on 26th November 2009:

It depends on life circle of product, it could not be possible to have the same quality of vegetables (because of short life circle) from Spain due to time spend for all logistics involved.

Simon Brooke on 27th November 2009:

@Paul G: What you’re forgetting is that virtually all Iceland’s energy is zero carbon. It comes from geothermal and from hydro-electric sources. Now, of course, the glass of the glass houses will have been imported and may have been made in carbon-spewing industry… just like the glasshouses in Holland, which are the alternative.

No, there’s no question in this case: for Icelanders locally produced vegetables are certainly lower carbon, if not lower energy. Also, given the collapse of the currency and the difficulties of foreign exchange, substantially better for Iceland’s balance of payments.

koster on 28th November 2009:

I love Icelandic veggies, they are very tasty and the best part is they tend not to be moldy like some of the imported stuff.
They could subsidize the greenhouses just for the sake of having a healthier population, those cherry tomatoes make a great healthy snack for kids that I would buy more of if they could compete with the prices of other snacks, like cookies..
OK we buy them anyways, but they do cost too much considering they are local.

Paul Montariol on 29th November 2009:

I start to understand the problems which you have.
It is not easy to solve them.
People as you can make move the things because you can put the questions very well.

Axel on 11th March 2010:

Doesn´t it make you angry?  The stupidity!  The blind ignorance!  Especially when you think that Iceland has all the resources it needs to become the world´s most wonderful example of an eco-friendly, sustainably nutritious, viable economy. 
Shame on the heads of state.  I say, let mother nature take a piss on their collective heads.

This article is archived. Comments are closed.