Before statehood, and for several decades after, Alaska had quite a number of small dairy farms. They dotted the Valley landscape, some with only a handful of milkers, some with dozens, but they all served to provide local residents with fresh milk.....not canned or powdered. Matanuska Maid was the local co-op, and they eventually grew to ship enough to Anchorage for many years. They had a successful advertising campaign, and a great graphic:
Unfortunately, poor management and politics led to its eventual demise. The ultimate issue continues to plague what passes for Alaska dairy today, and that is: The development of former pasture and hay acreage, coupled with a growing population who demands cheap, subsidized milk. Oh, you didn't know that the $3.89 gallon of milk you buy at WalMart was subsidized? The FSA has a program aimed to support the difference between at the farm price, and the retail shelf. And so too, are Alaska dairies subsidized, as seen here in this report, generated from USDA and FOIA requests:
http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=02000&progcode=dairy
From 2006, here is a decent article that explains what the situation was then......since then, of course, Matanuska Creamary came and went, a project spearheaded by yet another failed farmer: Kyle Beus:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/community/2006-08-06/valley-dairy-farmers-ready-quit (Trytten's have left the state, Brost is no longer dairying commercially...and other farms have been sold)
Sprinkled throughout its patchy, up and down history, are grand standing politics, a Borough that hopes to increase revenues through property taxes, co-ops of the old fashioned kind (that failed), privatization (that failed), a heavily subsidized creamery (that failed) and a consuming public that has no clue what it takes to put that $4 gallon jug on the shelf in the dairy section.
Not helping matters is our own ADEC. Yes, our own state has it's hands firmly around the neck of Alaska dairy, and has been squeezing for decades. There is one functioning commercial dairy left in Southcentral, in Palmer. Havemeisters. Draw your own conclusions there, but they can only produce a tiny fraction of the daily consumption here. And even tinier fraction is supplied by milk share programs-the state's sole nod to private, small dairy activity. Prohibited from selling their milk, customers who chose wholesome, fresh milk for their family, must literally buy the cow (share) to have any. Subsequently, 100s of productive dairy cows (those that cost upwards of $10,000 each, as quoted above) have been processed by MMM for burger and steaks for the inmates over the years following Mat Maid's spectacularly public collapse. It will take years and bucket loads of money to rebuild herds lost to the ineptitude of bureaucrats.
If a person poked around the records relating to the Point MacKenzie agricultural project, you would soon see a steady movement of productive hay lands, into various government entities: DOC for one. Or perhaps the Alaska Rail Road. Just two farms, comprising of over 1200 acres of formerly very productive hay acreage, was taken away from the resources available to local farmers and producers. This has been occurring for years, and the slide into development will only accelerate when the rail line extends to the port-and very quickly should the fabled bridge materialize. The shrinking numbers of hay acres has also lead to a steady decline in livestock over all, not just dairy cows.
And what is the take away, from all of the above?
It's actually pretty simple: No hay, no livestock.
More to come..............
From 2006, here is a decent article that explains what the situation was then......since then, of course, Matanuska Creamary came and went, a project spearheaded by yet another failed farmer: Kyle Beus:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/community/2006-08-06/valley-dairy-farmers-ready-quit (Trytten's have left the state, Brost is no longer dairying commercially...and other farms have been sold)
Sprinkled throughout its patchy, up and down history, are grand standing politics, a Borough that hopes to increase revenues through property taxes, co-ops of the old fashioned kind (that failed), privatization (that failed), a heavily subsidized creamery (that failed) and a consuming public that has no clue what it takes to put that $4 gallon jug on the shelf in the dairy section.
Not helping matters is our own ADEC. Yes, our own state has it's hands firmly around the neck of Alaska dairy, and has been squeezing for decades. There is one functioning commercial dairy left in Southcentral, in Palmer. Havemeisters. Draw your own conclusions there, but they can only produce a tiny fraction of the daily consumption here. And even tinier fraction is supplied by milk share programs-the state's sole nod to private, small dairy activity. Prohibited from selling their milk, customers who chose wholesome, fresh milk for their family, must literally buy the cow (share) to have any. Subsequently, 100s of productive dairy cows (those that cost upwards of $10,000 each, as quoted above) have been processed by MMM for burger and steaks for the inmates over the years following Mat Maid's spectacularly public collapse. It will take years and bucket loads of money to rebuild herds lost to the ineptitude of bureaucrats.
If a person poked around the records relating to the Point MacKenzie agricultural project, you would soon see a steady movement of productive hay lands, into various government entities: DOC for one. Or perhaps the Alaska Rail Road. Just two farms, comprising of over 1200 acres of formerly very productive hay acreage, was taken away from the resources available to local farmers and producers. This has been occurring for years, and the slide into development will only accelerate when the rail line extends to the port-and very quickly should the fabled bridge materialize. The shrinking numbers of hay acres has also lead to a steady decline in livestock over all, not just dairy cows.
And what is the take away, from all of the above?
It's actually pretty simple: No hay, no livestock.
More to come..............
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