From YLE:
The mayor of the Finnish west-coast town of Närpes, Hans-Erik “Hasse” Lindqvist, is a happy man. While leaders of many Finnish municipalities are grappling with budget cuts and tax hikes, Lindqvist was able to put together next year’s budget easily.
“We put together a zero budget. There’s enough money to produce services,” he says with a smile. Närpes is a predominantly-Swedish-speaking South Ostrobothnian town of nearly 10,000. Some 10.7 percent of local residents have native languages other than Swedish or Finnish.
He attributes the health of the town’s economy to its entrepreneurs – and immigrants.
The upswing began when the local greenhouse producers switched over to year-round growing in the 1990 – just as the municipality began accepting refugees from Vietnam and Bosnia.
To read the full article, visit the YLE website.
Latest from Produce Grower
- WUR extends Gerben Messelink’s professorship in biological pest control in partnership with Biobest and Interpolis
- Closing the loop
- The Growth Industry Episode 8: From NFL guard to expert gardener with Chuck Hutchison
- Raise a glass (bottle)
- From farm kid to Ph.D.
- Do consumers trust produce growers?
- The modern grocery shopper
- Beyond a burst of optimism
