The bad seed(s)

In pondering just how it is that that state of Alaska agriculture has fallen into the condition it now faces, one has to pull together history, funding (including the boondoggles and busts), public perception, politics, and ego.

Once upon a time, Alaska did a pretty good job of feeding itself. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't a wide range of foods, but despite the usual setbacks of poor harvests and bad winters, people as a rule did not starve here before the modern computerized container ships of today.  There were cattle-dairy and beef, which were fed hay and silage, with some smaller fields of oats and barley grown. There were several egg producers, and most folks had a vegetable garden to augment their variety. Today, conditions are vastly different, with over 95% of the food consumed in this state, arriving by ship. truck, or air. Most residents are blithely unaware that there is about three days worth of food in the state.  Today, the state is incapable of feeding its own residents, and the movers and shakers that be in the "ag industry" up here, are equally incapable of of rising to the challenge in any meaningful way. 

The bad seed is the fruit: what passes for the "good old boy" network-or "Corrupt Bastards Club", of Alaska Ag.

Want to start a new farm here in Alaska? Well golly gee we're glad to have you(r money!). Pay residential price for raw land. Or worse, pay premium for established, productive farm land. Get lucky and pay a smidgen less on state land without access. Go big and risk everything on an Ag lease, we'll be happy to have you(r money!). But don't expect the freedoms for which Alaska is known for, to apply to Ag. Nope, no, not going to happen. The BAC decides what is acceptable for "Ag" here, and they won't let you forget it. Upset their personal apple cart with a new idea, then see how quickly every door shuts in your face. Have a past that includes a personal dust up with a member? Gee, too bad, no help for you!  And they can't be bothered with small requests, no way. They are *industry* in that haughty, down the nose, waving handkerchief sort of way, the way that drives a doer around the bend in frustration.

The absolutely astounding thing, is the number of people-professionals and families from the Lower 48, and Alaska born residents, who *still* want to farm here. They have no idea just how broad the quagmire, the cesspool of the Div of Ag really is, and how they have purposefully handicapped the growth of Ag. They don't know the family ties, the bitter rivalries, the "no you can't do that here" mentality. They don't know that there is no mechanism for financing anything that does not meet one or two people's idea of what is "agriculture". Instead of welcoming new ideas, methods, plans, and keeping Alaska ag at the forefront of northern horticulture, they're quite content close their ranks and books and accounts. And minds, because "you can't do that here, because we don't do that here". 

A logical person would conclude that two vocal politicians (Tuck and Weilechowski) are bad seeds too, since they want to cut the purse strings that prop open the division of Ag-and they've been public about it. Such an act would close Mt. McKinley Meats, the sole slaughterhouse in Southcentral Alaska (again, where are the visionaries for Ag? NOT on the boards and committees!) . That would have a huge ripple effect across the sector.....reaching 1000s of Alaska families and not in a good way. 

The bad seed germinates well in an atmosphere of "my way or the highway" and they're always ready to close ranks against newcomers and new thinkers and new ways of looking at agriculture.  A little discrimination, carefully applied, is never called into question either. Illegal or above board, the "ag industry" that long timers are desperate to protect, is about to be hacked out of the budget. 

Ironic, isn't it, that~
                               
             as ye sow, so shall ye reap..........