Iceland Grows Bananas Near Arctic

Only 177 miles from the Arctic Circle, Iceland has Northern Europe's largest banana plantation inside greenhouses near Hveragerði. The Icelandic National Gardening School planted its first banana plants around 1950 as an experiment. Heat from nearby volcanic springs keeps the greenhouses at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year, even when Iceland receives only four hours of winter sunlight. The bananas grow slowly and are harvested from April through June, but commercial production proved too expensive.

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