TL;DR: Canadian crypto mining company Koinedge Farms plans to mine cryptocurrency in the chilly eastern province of Labrador, using surplus heat generated from rigs to grow vegetables. There is a growing concern about mining’s impact on the environment, and this could be a real step toward easing such worries, the company hopes.

Crypto Mining in Eastern Canada to Grow Vegetables

State-run media outfit Canadian Broadcasting Corporation claims the plan for Koinedge to locate a mining farm in the province Labrador for the purpose of ultimately growing food might not be that far from reality. “Koinedge anticipates enough produce to feed every Labradorian 86 vegetable servings a year,” they reported.

Labrador is at the most-eastern and tippy northern top of Canada, near Newfoundland, and is very, very cold. The climate varies from polar to subarctic. Such temperatures are perfect for keeping computer equipment running in mass quantities from overheating. “With its proximity to Muskrat Falls power,” the CBC notes, “and naturally freezing temperatures to offset air conditioning costs — Labrador has become an ideal place for data centres.”

Popular media accounts of the cryptocurrency mining industry and its dealings with colder towns and cities are replete with Devil’s Bargain scenarios: a few jobs for a chance to profit off comparatively cheaper power costs. In a lot of those cases, miners are accused of using more energy than the town or village anticipated, and not too long after some enterprising politician voices environmental concerns, … hoping to chase miners away.

Buyers’ Remorse and Noise Pollution

Koinedge Farms founder, Robert Edgeworth, acknowledged, “There’s a little reason for people to be unhappy about these facilities because they use an enormous amount of power and don’t provide a lot of benefits to the community in terms of jobs.” The firm, however, has already invested $1 million in another part of Canada where they’re registered, and so it doesn’t appear to be a fly-by-night or less-than-serious operation.

They would also not be the first company to mine in Labrador, and residents have long-standing complaints about noise generation. “We’re engineering the building specifically to manage the noise, so all of the fans that are moving air are built within the structure so that the noise is contained. We also engineered the fan sizes to be substantially over the required airflow so that they don’t run at full speed,” Edgeworth explained.

He believes Koinedge has struck a nice balance, promising less noise, jobs, and food production to make their potential presence more, well, palatable. “Our response to finding a solution that’s fair to the community was to look at coupling the food production to both increase the number of jobs created per megawatt usage, and also the greater community gets the benefit of having fresh, high quality. In the pilot facility we’d have about a thousand square feet and that would generate on the order of 600 pounds of fresh produce a week,” Edgeworth noted, which would ultimately amount to something like 25% of local consumption.

Two-dozen full-time jobs, and a carbon emission reduction of 577 tonnes per year by avoiding traditional produce shipping, is causing some to believe it just might be a nice tradeoff. The only thing standing in the plan’s way now is a lack of response from the local major power producer. Until then, all plans remain only that.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.

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