ALASKA FOOD SECURITY is a crisis compounded since 200 farming families from the midwestern US were brought to the fertile Matanuska Valley to try and eek out a living during the Great Depression. Later, during WWII between 5,000-6,000 head of cattle provided sustenance for our troops on Kodiak Island. Today we don’t have enough cattle statewide to feed Alaskans for more than a month or two. Commercial ag land is limited to 450-acre plots and mostly hobby farms supply produce for Farmer’s Markets.
MatSu Food Bank Builds Community MatSu Food Bank Executive Director, Eddie Ezelle, took me for a tour of the organization’s new facility on Blue Lupine Rd. in Wasilla. At any given time there are as many as 18 Food Pantries in the Matanuska Susitna Valley providing nutritious food to local residents, some supplied by the MatSu […]
Feeding Alaskans in Mat-Su Read More »
How Agriculture Works in Alaska (2021©donnliston.co) The theme of the long-time Spenard bar fits many, but not all, Alaska farmers. Alaska gardeners are familiar with the work of Jeff Lowenfels, a local authority on plants and gardening, who together with Wayne Lewis wrote a book called Teaming with Microbes for those who want
Let’s talk about Fertilizer Read More »
Mike’s Meats Once Aspired to Provide Alaska Food Security This is an update of a story first published June 5, 2020. Cattle lagging behind are urged down from the upper deck of the trailer at Rocket Ranch by Greg Giannulis at 3 am. The herd of cattle moved toward the far end of their enclosure after a
An Eagle River Institution: Read More »
Do more farms mean more production for Alaskans? In his self-satisfied memoir—written after serving two terms as Alaska’s fifth governor–Jay Hammond, in his book Tales of Alaska’s Bushrat Governor, reflects on …major disappointments in my second term. One, deemed by many the biggest blunder of my administration, was an attempt to promote Alaska agriculture. [1]
Steps to Food Security for Alaska: Are Alaska Agriculture Efforts Working? Read More »
Opportunity Lost The State of Alaska has a high opinion of the value of Agriculture Land, which includes Agricultural Homesteads with Agricultural Rights Only, and Fee Simple land with Agricultural Covenants. Perhaps that is why so little ag land is in production in Alaska. It is just too valuable to allow much of it to
The Sorry State of Alaska Agriculture: Kodiak Island Area Beef Production Read More »
Addressing Alaska’s Hierarchy of Needs This is an update of a story that first appeared February 10, 2021. Alaskans are generally stuck at the bottom of the 5-level pyramid of human needs defined in Abraham Maslow’s 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. His 1954 book “Motivation and Personality” expanded on this theory and remains a
Alaska has Food Security Options Read More »
Realities of Alaska Food Security (2020©donnliston.co) Familywith food on the table have many problems. Familywith no food on the table have one problem.
Who is Making a Difference? Read More »
Who Cares about Alaska FoodSustainability? WITH STORY UPDATE RESPONSE FROM ADF&G (2020©donnliston.co) This is a story of one man attempting to deal with the machine known as the State of Alaska. We who have lived a long time in Alaska know this machine well because it creates dependency while asserting to promote Alaskan independence. The
Feeding Alaskans; Man vs ADFG Machine Read More »
The Future of Alaska Food Security Rayna Reynolds, 9, is a farm girl in the Matanuska Valley. (2020©donnliston.co) When 200 farm families were selected from three mid-western states to be moved to Alaska’s Matanuska Valley for a farming experiment in 1935, nobody was certain what would happen. During the early 1930s Alaska agriculture was in
Who Dares to Farm in Alaska? Read More »
