YAKUTSK, RUSSIA (REUTERS) - Greenhouses invented by a Japanese company allow what is often called the coldest city on earth to grow tomatoes when temperatures drop to minus 50 deg C.
Yakutsk in Siberia is one of the coldest cities in the world. During the freezing winter months it averages a temperature of minus 34 deg C with only five hours of daylight.
That means crops cannot be grown in the frozen soil.
But local authorities have teamed up with Japanese firm Hokkaido Corporation to build greenhouses with special technology.
The local mayor hopes the project will go a long way to providing the fruit and veg needed by Yakutsk's people.
The greenhouses are specially designed to withstand the extreme cold.
Three layers of a thin film made from rubber with thermal insulation properties are used.
Until now most produce had to be transported from Russia's Krasnodor region or imported from China. But now, if the technology proves a success, the tomatoes will not have to travel too far to feed Yakutsk.