You can grow a 20-pound cucumber in Soldotna, but pay $5.79 for a one-pound bag of imported carrots in Kotzebue.<\/p>\n
When it comes to fruits and vegetable, Alaska varies region by region. Areas like the Mat-Su and Tanana Valleys are great for growing, where outside farming in Arctic communities just isn\u2019t a possibility. Some communities have regularly occurring farmers markets, while others are lucky to have fresh produce stocked in the grocery store at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we became a state, we used to raise half the food that was consumed in Alaska,\u201d Gov. Bill Walker said Thursday morning during the opening session of the National Association of Farmer\u2019s Market Nutrition Programs conference in Juneau.<\/p>\n
Now, that figure is at 4 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s partly because we have grown since statehood in population, but also we\u2019ve sort of lost our vision a bit. We got a little too wedded to one nonrenewable commodity \u2014 oil \u2014 and we sort of stopped doing what we should have been doing,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
With 96 percent of the state\u2019s food imported, Alaska only has three to five days of food supply, said Kathleen Wayne, the state\u2019s director for the Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children, and manager of Family Nutrition Programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly know when I go to the local grocery store here and the barge hasn\u2019t come in, there\u2019s nothing on the shelves, and that\u2019s Juneau. How about all those other remote areas around the state that we know don\u2019t have roads that are reliant on planes or boats getting food to those areas?\u201d Wayne said to the conference audience.<\/p>\n
At the grocery store in the Aleutian community of Sand Point, she said, a cantaloupe costs around $8.29 and a pound of grapes costs $6.49.<\/p>\n
Alaska faces many challenges when it comes to growing, including expense, microclimates, a short growing season, permafrost, soil low in natural fertility, cold soil or excessive rain.<\/p>\n
At the same time, though, \u201cWe do have an abundance of Mother Nature\u2019s fruits and vegetables that we all love,\u201d Wayne said. She listed off foods like salmonberries, blueberries, beach asparagus and fiddlehead ferns.<\/p>\n
Some people are getting around growing challenges through innovation. In Kotzebue, Arctic Greens, a subsidiary of the local Native assodiation, is growing spinach, kale and other types of lettuce inside shipping containers. The plan is to supply local and nearby grocery stores.<\/p>\n
[Farmers use hydroponics to feed rural arctic villages<\/a>]<\/p>\n Walker said he hopes to see ideas like that spur more Alaska-grown food.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spend $2 billion a year on food. We don\u2019t have to go out and look to a market; we are the market. We just have to do what we do differently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Wherever he travels in Alaska, Walker said he looks out for farmers markets. While he was recently at one in Fairbanks, he was handed a flier.<\/p>\n \u201cIt said, \u2018If every Alaskan spent $5 a week on local produce, that would bring in $188 million,\u2019 which is pretty phenomenal. Our whole capital budget for building roads and infrastructure this year is $95 million, so that would be twice what we have in our capital budget,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n Since 2004, the number of farmers markets in the state has grown from 11 to 42, Walker said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just in one spot,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s taken off around the state. People are realizing this is an opportunity that we absolutely have to take advantage of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are sort of awakening in an area that\u2019s been so prolific in other states,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n He said he wants Alaska to raise the amount of locally grown food \u201csignificantly\u201d from 4 percent, though he wouldn\u2019t stipulate how much greater or by when.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n In solidarity with Standing Rock, Juneau rally opposes Dakota Access pipeline<\/a><\/p>\n Strong wind, heavy rain likely in Southeast through Saturday<\/a><\/p>\n