Arctic honey on your toast - and cucumbers and tomatoes grown in Arctic Siberia

Greenhouses are to be built in the tundra in the settlements of Nyda, Kutopyugan, and Nori, all above the Arctic Circle. Up to 30 greenhouses will be erected on the permafrost in a region better known for reindeer herding. 

As well as cucumbers and tomatoes, there is also a plan to grow Arctic potatoes, revealed a recent Itar-Tass report. 

'The local authorities are planning to sign a contract with the State Research Institute of Veterinary Entomology of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, based in the city of Tyumen, to study the soil fertility potential with an eye to growing potatoes,' it was reported.

In fact, potatoes were first grown here in the Stalin era and by the Second World War there were some 354 hectares under cultivation. 

'After the war, local farmers gradually expanded vegetable and potato production. In 1955, cultivated lands amounted to 420 hectares. 

'In the past 15 years however, the plant growing sector in Yamal has been shrinking. 

'In late 2012, governor of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous area Dmitry Kobylkin called on the local farmers to work out a concept of a new programme to revive the vegetable-growing sector.'

In the language of the native Nanets, the world Yamal means 'end of the world'. Despite this, backers of the project insist they will get a good harvest.

We will keep you informed. 

Not only that - the Nadym district recently won a prize in Germany for its tundra honey. The bees are attracted to native plants such as cloudberries, cowberries, bilberries, and cranberries. Now the authorities are reported to be buying 100 bee colonies in 2013.