Alaska Ag.....The Food Security Thing

The gnarly issue of feeding the residents of  Alaska is never far from mind.  


It's only taken four generations to nearly sever the ties between food production, and the modern consumer. Prior to that time, most rural homes had gardens, and generations of family who were skilled and experienced at home food preservation.  They had root cellars, kitchen gardens, drying and smoking sheds, ice houses and shelf upon shelf of carefully preserved fruits and vegetables. They held over their own seeds, traded for what they didn't have, and sold or bartered excess with neighbors. There were no grocers, no supermarkets, no rapid transit to whisk the crops away to large centers for processing and distribution. The extensive interstate highway system did not exist, and what was moved around was done so by rail and barge. The birth of mega farms, monoculture production, and conglomerates was decades away from the lifestyle of the previous centuries.

Today, most kids believe food is contained only in brightly colored boxes their parents pull from the freezer and cupboard.  There is a large disconnect between what they are served, and where it comes from. Today's urban child may know what animals are "farm" animals, but have never seen or laid hands upon one. They've never collected eggs, raised poultry or livestock for 4-H, or helped with family gardens.  They've never been in a barn, let alone cleaned one, and never walked fields with bucket in hand, to round up that blasted loose calf. They've never picked an apple, or a berry, or a tomato. For most of them, there is too much outside out there, and it's smelly, disgusting, and scary.

For this, we can thank the urbanization of the workforce in no small part.  From family farms and small towns, to the bustling hordes of large cities, the move was slow, steady, and allowed America to expand its business and economy, into one that most of the developed world envies even today.  There are entire libraries devoted to this flight from farm to city, so there is little need to revisit the details.  But Alaska remains a unique state, with a unique set of circumstances.

We are fortunate indeed, to have regular shipments from the western ports of the US. These shipments are absolutely crucial to feed Alaskan residents and visitors.  Thanks in no small part to the invention of "just in time" ordering, Alaska grocers and retailers enjoy a steady supply of product for their customers. Even in the Bush, orders are regular (if subject to delivery conditions i.e: frozen rivers or break up of same) if costly. Back in the 60s, my own Mother used to sit down with a calendar and plan out meals to the ingredient. Why? Because we only got to town about every four months or so.  Back then, every grocery store had a warehouse with additional inventory-just in case. If not, our trek to the grocery store would cause my Mother to hastily rework the menu calendar, due to empty shelves caused by barges lost at sea. Thankfully, a hand spaded large garden was very successful for the family.

The regular port arrivals of behemoth ships carrying hundreds of shipping containers, is Alaska's literal lifeline. Any serious disruption in the supply chain will have immense consequences, a ripple effect not well thought out by most residents. I have spoken to those in emergency management, who say it plain: Alaska is 9 meals away from anarchy. There are any number of scenarios which might cause that critical chain to snap (earthquake, tsunami, EMP, solar flare, other natural disaster down south, war, to name a few) so you'd think that the Division of Agriculture might be a logical place to find solutions to this risk we all face.

Well, good luck with that. The State of Alaska, if the Division of Agriculture is any indication, could care less about the state's inability to feed itself. They share no information freely about their activities, you must submit a FOIA that they will run before their state attorneys first. Their land offerings, as few as they are, are expensive, restrictive, and seldom successful with food production. They have a lot of payroll tied up in "marketing", which most advertising professionals would see as marginally effective.  Yay, AlaskaGrown!  Yay, Alaska State Fair!  Yay, monster veggies!  Yay local produce in season at grocery stores! Yay! The Alaska Grown Source Book! Yay, yay, yay!  Right? Pffft!  Wrong, oh so wrong.

Still no solution to the insurance problem.
Still no lands for a modern day land rush.
Still no progress in getting Alaskans to feed themselves.
What do they do at the PMC?  Well, who knows for sure. Except that hemp is not happening any time soon, they test grow a lot of stuff, but how are they proving their results? Answer:  They don't. 
A repository for all things relating to Ag in Alaska? Not hardly.

All of which, and a lot more contained on this blog, begs the question:

Does the State of Alaska need a Division of Agriculture at all?

What's that smell?

Amid the cacophony of wails regarding Governor-Elect Dunleavy's request for resignations, and claims of "loyalty oath demand", and other assorted protestations of unfairness, there is an underlying hint of fear and trepidation.  

Mr. Babcock was accurate when he stated that no one person is irreplaceable, when it comes to state employment. Those of us in the private sector know this, and live this, every single day. 

This was followed by much consternation and gasps of fear, over his astute choices thus far, for his administration. I am awaiting to learn who will head the Division of Agriculture, because it surely will not be sycophant Keyes, with all his photo ops with Walker, his maxed out donations to Walker's failed bid for re-election and so on. Given the outstanding excellence of Gov-Elect Dunleavy's picks, I am confident that Corri Fiege will chose someone who is not afraid to clean house, shutter programs with little value, and put someone in place who will move Alaska Ag forward into the 21st century. It is so in a rut, so technologically lagging, so unable to serve the residents, it seriously needs a power wash, top to bottom. 

And let's not forget the BAC (Board of Agricultural Conservation, which oversees the ARLF) and it's staggering partisanship, inability to even provide an agenda, inability to provide meeting minutes, and it's unknown loan parameters. Here too, a complete replacement (or even perhaps, a reqorking of the seats themselves, is sorely overdue. 

So that slightly sour aroma wafting from 1800 E Glenn Highway?  Pretty sure it's the smell of fear and uncertainty, as our highly paid public servants come to realize they may have screwed the pooch one time too many. 

One Small Valley Social inJustice

Fair warning: There will be an individual named here, who does exist here in the Valley. 

First, social injustice.  

This is perpetrated upon all of us by our own government, and perpetuated by a combination of civil restraint and the inability of the governed to effect meaningful, rapid, common sense change.  Most readers will be painfully aware of the consequences of SB91, and their partial "fixes" as attempted by the Legislature in the last session. This feel good legislation, meant to keep habitual offenders from lengthy jail sentences has failed utterly and completely.  Originally proposed to go hand in hand with a massive increase in drug and mental health services (which likely would not have been effective anyway, if you look into the reports of this system in other states) the legislature, in its stupidity, did one without the other.  So, criminals are let loose, given citations at best, and are seldom incarcerated or successfully prosecuted. Even felonies get less than a slap on the wrist (as evidenced by the release of the felon who sexually assaulted a woman in broad daylight, was convicted, and gets off with time served.....in his own home, with an ankle monitor)  and lesser crimes? Most residents already know how futile it is to report pretty much anything. Not enough Troopers for our area, and so on.

This situation will not be rectified for many years to come, and in the meantime, crime has skyrocketed across the Valley. Just as the Troopers are not given enough tools to be effective in stemming this in any significant way, the laws as they exist, do not give the public the means to respond effectively either. 

Just make a noise about an informal community patrol, or making a citizen's arrest, or tracking down a thief on your own, or serve a little payback-and watch the law enforcement community stand shoulder to shoulder and cry out: You may not do that! That's our job. In fact, there are literally hundreds of cases where private citizens have handed the AST a solid, air tight case and absolutely nothing is accepted. Period end. Photos, videos, caught red handed, does not matter-none of it is ever prosecuted and for that, lay some blame at the feet of the DA-who prefers a high conviction rate (as a means to a seat on the bench) and who will plead out anything and everything to get the right magic numbers. So just to be clear: If you have been made a victim of criminal behavior, you have to literally work it through the AST hierarchy, then over to the DAs office. If you are very fortunate, you will get the ADAs to persuade the DA, and they'll get their cases assigned. Which is not the same thing as having a Trooper call you back with a case #, hours or days after you have been victimized by some lowlife who likely has numerous warrants already.

On to the specifics of the topic.....

There is a woman here in the Valley, Brandi Slover.  Not quite sure how old Brandi is, but she is definitely an adult, and according to her own family, has made poor life choices and has a history of drug abuse.  If you drive between, say, the Meadowlakes area and Talkeetna, you stand a pretty good chance of seeing her, live and in person. This is the nutjob that literally darts into traffic moving at highway speeds. She dances and spins along the roadways, has thrown rocks and other debris at passing cars...and is not afraid to be topless, or to literally flash her genitals at traffic. She is completely impulsive and a driver has no idea the woman might very likely, step right into the lane. She has caused dozens and dozens of people brake hard and take evasive action, and one day, she will not beat the odds and that will be the end of Brandi Slover. 

She is well known to the AST, and has been to API numerous times in the past. In their 72 hour hold, she passes the psych eval and is released into the unsuspecting public again...and it all starts over. Her family cannot commit her, she has to commit herself. (Although seeking legal guardianship might be an answer, don't know) The thing is this: Brandi may not be a danger to herself in the clinical sense, but she is a clear and present danger to the community. Period end. And nothing can be done. If family cannot get her committed to API long enough for effective treatment, the courts surely don't act to protect the public either. They know her history, they know she'll be released and so....nothing happens. 

One day, this little facet of social injustice is going to cause a mentally unstable woman to be killed, and the operator (and passengers, if any) of the vehicle that takes her out to be traumatized, thanks to your government. 

However, if it had been a man flashing his genitals at dozens of vehicles on the highway?  Well, you can bet his butt would be in jail. For a very long time. And you know it's true.   And that is also a social injustice. 

All the leaves are brown.....

and the sky is blue........

(apologies to the music fans)


For some reason, the current state of things, has prompted that snippet of song into an ear worm of major proportions. Think this through:

In May this year, we had roughly six weeks of very cool, dark, and cloudy weather.

When did the bees show up in earnest at your place?  If you are like me, they never really did. Had no pollinators whatsoever except for the occasional bumble bee, lost from a local beekeeper. But native bees? None until August.

Had plenty of robins early on, but they took off in early June. Where did they go?

Gardening reports have the season as mixed, at best.  Some were fortunate and had a great year, but many folks, like myself, had a marginally productive year-despite added amendments and care.  Even my raspberry patch, reliable for 5 to 7 gallons of great berries every season-produced only a fraction of normal.

And then there are the trees.  Didn't it seem like things were turning color a little too soon?  But if you take a really close look at those birch trees.....well, I think we have a problem. Maybe a big problem, on the heels of the huge spruce bark beetle kill off of our local spruce. 

Our local birch trees have been subject to attacks by a pest known as "birch leaf miner" for some years now. This is what produced the bare tree tops in a wide swath of the Valley.  In some areas, the entire tops of the trees are dead-including, seemingly, a portion of the main trunk. On my own property, I have some that appear dead for the upper ten feet or so and looking around my travels, I see many birch showing the same effects of "whatever it is". 

And there is something else. The trees are not the bright and cheerful sunny yellow and vibrant orange that a combination of a good frost and dropping sap provides.  Nope, if you check closely, you will see some have leaves that are browning at the *branch*. At the stem where they attach to the limb. In fact. some of the leaves affected appear nearly singed. 

At first I thought it had to be something specific to our several birch species...but nope, the same thing shows on my own well tended lilac shrubs.  The leaves are browning from the stem outwards. There is no other symptom of disease or distress that I can identify. These shrubs are well watered, pruned every two years, and get at least some fertilizer from being planted in the lawn.

All the leaves are brown....and the sky is blue.......

.........??

The perils and perks of posting

Yep, another post by the blogger most of you love to hate.

You've done your part to squelch free speech, productive discussion, outright dissenting opinions, threatened livelihoods, and stomped all over the 1st Amendment rights of many locals over the past few years.  The incredibly slimy, seedy underbelly of Alaskan agriculture continues to bully honest criticism, and this blog has done it's part in exposing a portion, unknown to many (including local politicians) but it will no longer be the focus here. Yes, plenty has been shared, and continues to be shared but it has become such a yawner.....same story, different players, over and over. Blech.

In the meantime, I will post whatever the hell I feel like, whenever I feel like it, and as always, comments are welcome here.  Topics to come will include, but are not limited to:

The state of Alaska election issues.

The mismanagement of our collective resource (game and fish).

Crime and punishment.

And the occasional hard look at agriculture.

Alaska Ag......Plucked Again

In the scramble to make a buck in Alaska agriculture, many folks have tried various business models, inventive production techniques, attempted new crops and a wide range of assorted scams and dubious transactions have all had their place here. Sometimes, the only way to tell the difference is by the trail of victims left behind.

One such victim is a relatively unknown supporter of Alaska ag, who is, in his own right, an astute businessman with many years of successful history in the corporate world.  Just how this otherwise perceptive individual fell prey to one of our shining champions of locally grown, is unknown.....but fall he did:

Over 2,600 whole frozen chickens, abandoned into his care. And he is has been (reportedly) plucked himself, to the tune of over $90,000.00. The local champion has recently posted on social media that "their visions no longer" matched or words to that effect.  I have no doubt that the business man wanted to get paid for his services and investment, and the producers (who may or may not be paid) were sure that their hard work was happily sold into the fast growing Anchorage market.  But the truth is in the photos here, and tell a different story.

However, take a close look at this label:

A simple bar code does not an inspected chicken make.  Despite oral claims and fancy sales pitches, the co-op does not meet any USDA standard. And in fact, many of the weights are wrong, many by nearly four ounces.

The requirements for actual exempt labeling are:

So, there you have it. 2,600 improperly labeled, improperly weighed chickens, evidently produced *without* a ready market.  If there had been a ready market, they would not exist.....proving that the ground work for local poultry was not adequately researched, and that either the price point is beyond the market, or the demand for this specific product does not meet production-or a combination of all three.

Plucked, indeed, and a mighty shiner on the face of our local champion.