This investigation intends to be the most comprehensive geographical study to date on horticultural farming in Iceland. It is sponsored by the University of California, Davis, the University of Iceland, and several private and government entities. We seek to document the complex biophysical, social, economic, and political operating environment around horticultural production in Iceland as well as the responsive decisions made by horticultural farmers in their input sourcing, crop production, and produce marketing.

What we discover during the course of the investigation will inform future possibilities for the economic and ecological sustainability of expanding horticultural production in Iceland. Our publications will seek to illuminate paths to success for beginning farmers entering the industry and we will identify the means by which increasing consumer demand for domestic horticultural production can be met successfully by farmers while meeting the imperatives of ecological sustainability.

The foundation of this research project is data gathered directly from Iceland’s horticultural farmers. Utilizing a food system geographic analysis, we are gathering wide-ranging data from all types of horticultural farmers in Iceland who produce edible produce, including those who grow indoors and outdoors, those who grow hydroponically and those who grow in soil.