The bigger picture.....Alaska Ag

Or perhaps this should be titled:

                              Alaska Ag.....past, present, and future? 

To understand what is happening now, one needs to examine what occurred in the past. And to grasp the realities of the future, one only needs to look at any other isolated population around the world....democratic republic or not.


In short, Alaska had nothing but huge farming potential from the arrival of settlers who understood the possibilities of our unique growing conditions. With our midnight suns and volcanic-ally blessed soils....it was ripe (pardon the pun) for use. And use they did, from the first dream seekers to land upon Cook Inlet shores, to the trainloads of Midwestern immigrants in the 30s, to fortune chasers of the 70 and 80s, and so on to the exploding growth in local food and population we have today. 

By the time of statehood, the farming community in South Central was well established. A certain number of families had, over the preceding decades, made a niche for their product, intermarried, consolidated, founded businesses, and eyed the incoming newcomers with some suspicion. Even today, if you don't have ties that predate Statehood, you have....shall we say...no seat at the table.

Then came the oil boom, which leads us today. The oil boom brought riches to many, and that included farmers who sold off lands for retirement, and gave birth to the three huge boondoggles that will forever blacken the eye of Alaska Ag: The Delta Barley Project (with the grain terminal in Seward),  Pt. MacKenzie Agriculture Project, and the Matanuska Maid Dairy collapse. The fourth disaster is the closing of MMM&S.

So this will leave us with a bleak future.  No cattle, no dairy, no grain, no hay, no large scale dairy plant, no USDA certified processing facility. And most lands cut up into subdivisions, peopled with the remnants of the American dream (Alaska version).

Oh there will be vegetables, yes of course. But even so, with no state support, no advertising campaign, and a relatively blind consumer base, it will struggle along at the less than 5% of foods consumed for the foreseeable future.

And one has to wonder:

Why?  Why, with the blessings this state has, will there be no way for the state to feed itself?  Why are there no new hay fields to replace those lost to development and government seizure?  Why has dairy not been allowed to flourish here, since Mat Maid closed?  Why are there no cattle herds? Why are there no dairy herds? Why will there be no state controlled USDA plant in South Central? And more importantly.....who are the players these conditions benefit?

As was said in a previous entry, and worth repeating again:

Who will feed your family, when the proverbial fat lady sings and Ag is dead?