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Even though I agree that what the other commenter is saying is a fever dream, I do have to note that crops grow great in Norway and Sweden... so it's at least a

Even though I agree that what the other commenter is saying is a fever dream, I do have to note that crops grow great in Norway and Sweden... so it's at least a little to do with temperature, surely.

yorwba 2mo ago
That's a good point. So then what makes it a fever dream?
b112 2mo ago
There's North and then there's North. Canada already uses all the sensible land to use.
- yorwba 2mo ago
  Nordland in Norway produced 500 tons of grain in 2024, mostly barley. https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/04609 https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/04609 Nordland's southernmost spot has a latitude north of 65°, further north than most of Canada, save for Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The website for Canada's Census of Agriculture is extremely clunky, https://agriculture.canada.ca/atlas/apps/aef/main/index_en.html?AGRIAPP=15 https://agriculture.canada.ca/atlas/apps/aef/main/index_en.h... but seems to indicate no substantial amounts of any kind of field crops north of 60°, let alone 65°.
  - b112 2mo ago
    Hmm, this does seem to be a very nuanced map, and I guess it's more aimed at statisticians, than average people. But one thing I kept noting, was Alberta using land up north, right to the territories, and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba not. I think there are three issues here. Climate, farm size, and reporting. Some of the farms in the prairies are massive. I was hitch-hiking across Canada 20 years ago, and got a ride from a farmer in Saskatchewan. He told me he had some crazy number of acres of land, in the 50 thousand acre range, and that he was both the "youngest farmer" and "smallest landowner" in his coop. In the Prairies, they farm big. And a lot of this seems to be voluntary. So when I see the entire top half of some of these provinces simply cut off, I wonder if they even bother to report. The territories and managed differently, are directly federally controlled, and likely simply don't report. I find it hard to believe that farms stop right at the top of the Alberta border, and that's it. That said, I don't think I said you cannot grow crops in the north, just that you're heavily limited in what you can grow. Some grain crops, in the south, you can get several crops a year. Hay, and some wheats, you can get 2 or 3 in a year. But not corn. And not potatoes. And not a lot of other staples. Corn and potatoes are big, in terms of overall calories. Here, in Quebec near Ottawa, there are two types of human corn grown. In french they call it 'yellow' and 'bi-colour', in english Canada 'yellow' and 'peaches and cream' corn. The bicolour type has yellow and almost white kernels, and you can grow two crops of them here in this region, if lucky. For traditional yellow corn? On some cloudy years, the local farmer I buy from? They might lost their entire 'yellow corn' crop. It needs a lot of sun. I suspect the faster growing crop is less nutritious, although I could be wrong. One problem is that due to cross-pollination, it's kinda hard to get the original yellow corn. Anyhow. Not sure if you'll see any of this. But thought I'd respond regardless.

Even though I agree that what the other commenter is saying is a fever dream, I do have to note that crops grow great in Norway and Sweden... so it's at least a little to do with temperature, surely.

yorwba 2mo ago

That's a good point. So then what makes it a fever dream?

b112 2mo ago

There's North and then there's North. Canada already uses all the sensible land to use.

yorwba 2mo ago
Nordland in Norway produced 500 tons of grain in 2024, mostly barley. https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/04609 https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/04609 Nordland's southernmost spot has a latitude north of 65°, further north than most of Canada, save for Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The website for Canada's Census of Agriculture is extremely clunky, https://agriculture.canada.ca/atlas/apps/aef/main/index_en.html?AGRIAPP=15 https://agriculture.canada.ca/atlas/apps/aef/main/index_en.h... but seems to indicate no substantial amounts of any kind of field crops north of 60°, let alone 65°.
- b112 2mo ago
  Hmm, this does seem to be a very nuanced map, and I guess it's more aimed at statisticians, than average people. But one thing I kept noting, was Alberta using land up north, right to the territories, and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba not. I think there are three issues here. Climate, farm size, and reporting. Some of the farms in the prairies are massive. I was hitch-hiking across Canada 20 years ago, and got a ride from a farmer in Saskatchewan. He told me he had some crazy number of acres of land, in the 50 thousand acre range, and that he was both the "youngest farmer" and "smallest landowner" in his coop. In the Prairies, they farm big. And a lot of this seems to be voluntary. So when I see the entire top half of some of these provinces simply cut off, I wonder if they even bother to report. The territories and managed differently, are directly federally controlled, and likely simply don't report. I find it hard to believe that farms stop right at the top of the Alberta border, and that's it. That said, I don't think I said you cannot grow crops in the north, just that you're heavily limited in what you can grow. Some grain crops, in the south, you can get several crops a year. Hay, and some wheats, you can get 2 or 3 in a year. But not corn. And not potatoes. And not a lot of other staples. Corn and potatoes are big, in terms of overall calories. Here, in Quebec near Ottawa, there are two types of human corn grown. In french they call it 'yellow' and 'bi-colour', in english Canada 'yellow' and 'peaches and cream' corn. The bicolour type has yellow and almost white kernels, and you can grow two crops of them here in this region, if lucky. For traditional yellow corn? On some cloudy years, the local farmer I buy from? They might lost their entire 'yellow corn' crop. It needs a lot of sun. I suspect the faster growing crop is less nutritious, although I could be wrong. One problem is that due to cross-pollination, it's kinda hard to get the original yellow corn. Anyhow. Not sure if you'll see any of this. But thought I'd respond regardless.