There are plenty of challenges. First and foremost is price: an initial container cost $200,000 to deploy. That's not a huge sum for most cities, but it's a big deal in small towns and villages where that could be a large chunk of the budget. There's also the matter of electricity. Arctic towns frequently depend on generators instead of power plants, and a constantly running hydroponic garden could be a significant drain on the local grid. They may require renewable energy sources to run in areas where every kilowatt matters.

However, early results are promising. People are buying food from prototype gardens right now through the Arctic Greens brand, and an expansion of sales to more locations might just happen if it's cost-effective. Should that go ahead, residents in the Arctic (or any hard-to-cross territory) wouldn't have to make hard choices about what they eat, or make do without certain vegetables for significant stretches of time.