Greenland entrepreneur gambles on leafy greens
Growing lettuce in the Arctic as a commercial enterprise? A Greenlandic entrepreneur believes in the idea and sells his house to get start-up capital, a gamble he hopes will pay off.
A whiff of lemongrass and damp earth tickles the nose at Palli Fleischer Lyberth’s vertical farm in Sisimiut, the second largest town in the Danish autonomous territory.
In his makeshift greenhouse, Lyberth grows mainly Japanese mizuna, lettuce and microgreens which he sells to cruise ships, hotels and supermarkets in Greenland.
“A lot of people think it’s crazy, because we can have very cold winters here with a lot of snow, but the advantage is that we can use insulated buildings, LED lights and pumps that run the business,” he explains to AFP.
“We are about 50 kilometers from the Arctic Circle and, as you can see, the plants grow very well here,” he said while giving a tour of his facilities.
Lyberth said the cool climate was “very good for leafy greens,” unlike the sweltering, drought-ridden summers of Europe.
The absence of crop-damaging insects also means there is no need to use pesticides.
Lyberth, who has a background in tourism, learned how to grow lettuce without using soil from YouTube tutorials.
A water system irrigates plants via a nutrient substrate, a liquid fertilizer that replaces the nutrients and minerals naturally present in the soil.
He admits that the business is not yet profitable and the bills are piling up.
But he hopes to benefit from a government subsidy and believes in his dream: that Greenland imports less and produces more.
With 81% of Greenland’s surface covered in ice, the country imports 3,600 tonnes of vegetables each year, according to an article published by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021.
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