Above: CocoMats in the easy2Propagate trays provide naturally wicking irrigation for these micro herbs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCold tolerant crops currently form the mainstay of Polar Permaculture\u2019s food production. As the project gathers momentum they are looking to expand from their current output of lettuce, basil, coriander, dill and micro-greens temperature sensitive plants. Much will depend upon the success of the AutoPot systems which are currently in the early stages of planting but Benjamin\u2019s belief and experience inform him that anything is possible.<\/p>\n
So far he has had a huge list of specific issues to overcome. Shading arrangements have been devised to help defy the effects of twenty-four-hour light in the summer. Conversely, an fully-indoor laboratory has been established to allow food production from October to April when twenty-four-hour darkness prevails. Mites and aphids happily endure the climate and are as much of a concern to Polar Permaculture as to any grower. Soil may be produced in future but for now Benjamin has to to combine growing in imported, reusable substrates with experiments in new improvised growing media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn many respects the most persistent and obstinate hurdles have been those of bureaucracy. Many existing restrictions limit or prohibit the import of flora and fauna. Where restrictions don\u2019t exist there is often confusion and delay whilst the government establish new rules. This is, in part, a reasoned reaction to the damage caused by the import of outside species the Soviets used in their attempts to farm on the islands during the 80s and 90s. However, it is hard not to feel that some accommodation is necessary where farming is demonstrably contained. The awkward question of restrictions also revisits the idea of horticulture without limits. In future should we legislate against innovative but environmentally sensitive growing if the food produced offsets the damage being done by reliance on imports?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A vision of horticulture without limits pervades the pioneering work of Polar Permaculture Solutions. Scarcely could they have chosen a less conducive environment in which to grow crops. Arctic desert is the setting for their project to create sustainable fresh food production and self-sufficiency. And, to paraphrase Ol\u2019 Blue Eyes, \u201cif they can make it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autopot-news-2018"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/Polar_Permaculture_Main.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}