At 66 degrees north in Iceland’s Westfjords, the sun never sets below a 12‑hour day until September 21, leaving hemp plants with barely enough light to finish flowering before the first frost. High Latitude Hemp, a family‑run operation in Bolungarvík, fights this photoperiod crunch while cultivating CBD‑rich varieties for a northern market.
Breeding for a short northern season
Iceland legalized hemp cultivation in 2019, allowing growers to import EU‑certified seeds for varieties under 0.2% THC. The catalogue lists roughly 130 CBD strains, but most are untested for the extreme daylight and temperature swings of the Westfjords.
Sigurður Halldór Árnason, founder and scientist, says the key issue is photoperiod: summer days stretch to 24 hours, and the 12/12 schedule only begins on September 21, when frost already threatens the crop.
Temperature is a secondary hurdle; the north‑west runs 2–4 °C colder than the south, with summer highs between 6 °C and 20 °C. Sigurður notes that existing EU varieties can handle the light issue, but breeding is needed to tolerate the cold.
Indoors for now
Until outdoor‑adapted genetics arrive, High Latitude Hemp runs a 120 m² indoor grow room equipped with LED lighting and four deep‑water culture systems.
The space maintains 18–22 °C without supplemental CO₂, and each plant yields about 100 g of premium CBD flower.
Sigurður sources local spring water with a stable 6.5 pH, noting that Iceland’s electricity is cheap compared to mainland Europe. He maximizes space to offset high wholesale prices and runs pheno hunts on EU legal CBD lines, currently cultivating eight phenotypes from two varieties.
An industry beyond CBD
The company funds its research through Icelandic grants while sales of flowers and pre‑rolls cover daily operating costs.
Sigurður stresses that the product side sustains the business, and the grants enable long‑term breeding work.
Future plans target a full hemp chain — protein, oil, fiber and seed — for Icelandic farmers, challenging the notion that hemp thrives only in warmer climates. This approach could open new revenue streams for rural communities.
High Latitude Hemp ehf. can be reached at [email protected] or +354‑774‑7330, and more information is available at www.highlatitudehemp.is. The company sells CBD flower and pre‑rolls in Ísafjörður, Reykjavík and online.
