I think it must be something more to it than only the sun. I have lived north of the arctic circle in the land of the midnight sun (Norway) most of my life, potatoes and carrots grown here are not bigger than what is grown in the south where the growing season is much longer.

the part of Europe inside the Arctic Circle where the sun is in the sky very late at night in the summer.

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Collins: Land of the Midnight Sun

in American English, noun.

1. any of those countries containing land within the Arctic Circle where there is a midnight sun in midsummer, esp. Norway, Sweden, or Finland

2. Lapland

in British English, noun.

1. any land north of the Arctic Circle, which has continuous daylight throughout the short summer, esp N parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland

2. an informal name for Lapland

‘At the farmers’ markets, people are always delighted to get Scottish-grown stuff. But in the supermarkets, people always buy with an eye on the price. The fact is, heating those greenhouses is always going to put us at a cost disadvantage.

‘Now if something was to happen to road transport, more attention to food miles perhaps, it could change things. Or if southern Europe was to have more water shortages … But that’s looking decades ahead. If there’s ever going to be a Scottish tomato revival, I doubt I’ll be here to see it.’

2009 article, likely he is here to see it.

Turn the green into red and blue?

If on the other hand you emit light on the same spectrum as you receive it, then it's impossible to generate more flux, even in theory.

The fact that every year, literally thousands of tons of nutrients in the form of salmon from the ocean makes its way upstream, where it just deposits itself and stays there probably helps a lot. All the local plants are benefiting from this annual nutrient bomb.

That's interesting. The few people I know that live in Alaska or who have purchased local produce have said the opposite. That the strawberries were very large and very bland.

I assume some things get sweeter and some are more bland depending on if they burn their own sugar to grow?

[0] https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS.129.6.0839

But having been raised in central Alberta, which is fairly far north (lattitude 53), I tend to agree with this about flavour and northern climates. Higher lattitudes seem to produce more intense or nuanced berry flavours. One thing I've heard mentioned is that cool nights are important for berry flavour development; here in Ontario in the high humid summer heat (great lakes basin) it doesn't really cool down much at night.

Things like carrot flavours are likely explained more by the mineral composition of the soils, which haven't been farmed as much and are younger soils.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19746707

Our weekly mandis ( local vegetable markets ), have two kinds of potatoes, - Pahadi meaning from Hilly areas, and Desi meaning from the plains/flatlands.

Here's a good article mentioning history and cuisine of how they are used here.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/how-t...

On hillsides the cold air will flow downhill, but not linger.

On flatland cold air will "pool" and the temperature will drop.

(could also be water too)

Once the proper lights are found, energy consumption and cooling are so significant that it's not really economical to grow food indoors.

If you want to understand this more, I suggest looking up how to grow pot indoors. (It's really interesting to read, even if you never plan on doing it.) A significant amount of pot is grown indoors because it's easier to keep hidden than growing outdoors. (And, the stores that cater to indoor vegetable gardens really just cater to people growing pot in their closet or basement.)

(BTW, people growing lots of pot indoors are easy to find due to electricity consumption and strange heat signatures from their homes. Some people get caught after large blizzards because the snow on their roof melts unusually fast.)

Canada is a net exporter of tomatoes, many of which are grown in massive greenhouses in the middle of nowhere (e.g., https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/16/473526920/ho...) As the article says, it costs a bit more to grow, but the yield and quality make up for it.

Yes, it's cold in the winter because it's a continental climate, but the summers tend to be very hot and humid (mid 30C not uncommon and perceptually higher due to the high humidity.) Obviously not in Australia's heat ranges, but warmer than you'd find in most of Europe.

Many of these greenhouses are switching to growing cannabis now, with legalization.