4 ms·

Reminds me of one of the big open secrets of North America: northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec are fertile. There is a 250,000 sq. km clay belt that span

by retrac 2y ago

Reminds me of one of the big open secrets of North America: northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec are fertile. There is a 250,000 sq. km clay belt that spans almost from Winnipeg to Ottawa. The growing season is short but sufficient for grains and beans and such. It's the opposite problem. Drainage is poor and there is too much rain at the wrong time, so the land needs heavy drainage. Also it's miserably cold in winter, and it's far, far from the cities. The government tried settling it but most of them moved back south. Less than 5% of the area is under till or pasture today. The whole thing could be turned into a potato belt on the scale of the Prairies. If we could find anyone willing to live there. Truth is there are other places better suited.

whiplash451 2y ago
Anyone… or robots?
- ysofunny 2y ago
  [flagged]
- ben_w 2y ago
  Depends on what counts as a robot and how far you want to take them. In the extreme case, we can do aeroponics in greenhouses anywhere on the planet. Or another planet. Or space stations. But how much does it cost compared to open-air in soil?
fifilura 2y ago
Att 55 degrees latitude is is comparably pretty far south in Scandinavian terms, like Denmark. And we do grow crops in Sweden. Inland climate in Canada and (for Scandinavia) the Gulf Stream could make the difference. Although I imagine the Hudson bay should give it more of seaside climate?
- ovis 2y ago
  From a map I found[0], it looks like Sweden has an average annual temperature of around +5⁰C, and northern Ontario and Quebec are closer to -5⁰C? [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Annual_Average_Temperature_Map.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Annual_A...
  - fifilura 2y ago
    Thanks. Must be the Gulf stream and general seaside climate. We have it better than we deserve. But only 20000 years ago Sweden was covered in 3km of ice.
    - jhide 2y ago
      The Laurentide ice sheet over North America was similar depth and receded 15000 years ago. A blink in geologic time
- jseutter 2y ago
  I just looked up Cochrane ON because I hadn't heard of it before and yeah, it seems a bit of a mystery to me why it isn't more settled. I live around Edmonton where farming is a major industry, and just for comparison: Mean daily temperature range (min to max): Cochrane -19c to +24c, Edmonton -15 to +23 Growing season: Cochrane 155 days, Edmonton 123 days Frost free days: Cochrane 99 days, Edmonton 135 days Precipitation: Cochrane 90cm, Edmonton 42cm Around the first world war when the area was being settled, wikipedia quotes "7 months of snow, two months of rain, and the rest black flies and mosquitos. If I had to describe Edmonton, it would be 6 months of winter, one month of rain (June), 2 months of mosquitos, and 10 months of sun. If I had to guess, the frost free days is a big factor. Even though Edmonton is further north, we benefit from the jet stream coming over the mountains and largely keeping the arctic air mass away from us. The jet stream tilts further south into the US by the time you get over to Ontario so Manitoba and Northern Ontario can get some bitterly cold winds.
- cgh 2y ago
  No, northern Canada is just really cold. The Gulf Stream makes a difference in Europe in general, not just the seaside. Eg, Lillehammer, Norway is around the same latitude as Whitehorse, Canada but the average December high/low is a balmy -3°/°-8 compared to -10°/-18°. And Bergen is at the same latitude as those places but is even warmer, with a climate similar to Vancouver! That always amazes me. As far as Hudson’s Bay being “seaside”, Churchill, Manitoba is on the southwest shore and is a great place to go and see polar bears. If climate change does end up affecting the Gulf Stream, northern Europe is in for a tremendous cold shock.
blahedo 2y ago
Also, generally, the Great Lakes region. I've been thinking for decades now that when the big water fights get underway in the Southwest, the late-21st century megalopoleis of North America are going to be Chicago, Toronto, Milwaukee, Detroit... between "access to fresh water" and "cold in winter, but rarely subjected to catastrophic weather", the whole region is vastly better suited to large-scale settlement than, say, Phoenix or Las Vegas.

by retrac 2y ago

whiplash451 2y ago

Anyone… or robots?

ysofunny 2y ago
[flagged]
ben_w 2y ago
Depends on what counts as a robot and how far you want to take them. In the extreme case, we can do aeroponics in greenhouses anywhere on the planet. Or another planet. Or space stations. But how much does it cost compared to open-air in soil?

fifilura 2y ago

Att 55 degrees latitude is is comparably pretty far south in Scandinavian terms, like Denmark. And we do grow crops in Sweden. Inland climate in Canada and (for Scandinavia) the Gulf Stream could make the difference. Although I imagine the Hudson bay should give it more of seaside climate?

ovis 2y ago
From a map I found[0], it looks like Sweden has an average annual temperature of around +5⁰C, and northern Ontario and Quebec are closer to -5⁰C? [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Annual_Average_Temperature_Map.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Annual_A...
- fifilura 2y ago
  Thanks. Must be the Gulf stream and general seaside climate. We have it better than we deserve. But only 20000 years ago Sweden was covered in 3km of ice.
  - jhide 2y ago
    The Laurentide ice sheet over North America was similar depth and receded 15000 years ago. A blink in geologic time
jseutter 2y ago
I just looked up Cochrane ON because I hadn't heard of it before and yeah, it seems a bit of a mystery to me why it isn't more settled. I live around Edmonton where farming is a major industry, and just for comparison: Mean daily temperature range (min to max): Cochrane -19c to +24c, Edmonton -15 to +23 Growing season: Cochrane 155 days, Edmonton 123 days Frost free days: Cochrane 99 days, Edmonton 135 days Precipitation: Cochrane 90cm, Edmonton 42cm Around the first world war when the area was being settled, wikipedia quotes "7 months of snow, two months of rain, and the rest black flies and mosquitos. If I had to describe Edmonton, it would be 6 months of winter, one month of rain (June), 2 months of mosquitos, and 10 months of sun. If I had to guess, the frost free days is a big factor. Even though Edmonton is further north, we benefit from the jet stream coming over the mountains and largely keeping the arctic air mass away from us. The jet stream tilts further south into the US by the time you get over to Ontario so Manitoba and Northern Ontario can get some bitterly cold winds.
cgh 2y ago
No, northern Canada is just really cold. The Gulf Stream makes a difference in Europe in general, not just the seaside. Eg, Lillehammer, Norway is around the same latitude as Whitehorse, Canada but the average December high/low is a balmy -3°/°-8 compared to -10°/-18°. And Bergen is at the same latitude as those places but is even warmer, with a climate similar to Vancouver! That always amazes me. As far as Hudson’s Bay being “seaside”, Churchill, Manitoba is on the southwest shore and is a great place to go and see polar bears. If climate change does end up affecting the Gulf Stream, northern Europe is in for a tremendous cold shock.

blahedo 2y ago

Also, generally, the Great Lakes region. I've been thinking for decades now that when the big water fights get underway in the Southwest, the late-21st century megalopoleis of North America are going to be Chicago, Toronto, Milwaukee, Detroit... between "access to fresh water" and "cold in winter, but rarely subjected to catastrophic weather", the whole region is vastly better suited to large-scale settlement than, say, Phoenix or Las Vegas.