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Ken MeterCrossroadsResource Center(Minneapolis)
Building Food security
in Alaska
Alaska Food Festival & ConferenceAnchorage, AlaskaNovember 7, 2014
Sponsor
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services
“Finding Food in Farm Country” Studies
plus Maui & Hawai’iFairbanks & Alaska
107 regions in 36 states & Manitoba
Angoon
Johnson Family Farm, Fairbanks
Johnson Family Farm, Fairbanks
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Wasilla
Palmer
Palmer
Centers for Disease ControlDelivery to the Country
Angoon
Chena Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs
Taco Loco, Anchorage
Taco Loco, Anchorage
Taco Loco
Photo: Anabel Galindo
Calypso Farm, Ester
Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel
Build:Health WealthConnectionCapacity
Vision for local food economies
The current food system takes wealth out of our communities
“Local” foods may be the best path toward economic recovery in U.S.
Photo: DSC
“Local” is a shorthand....
Goal: to buildCommunity-Based Food Systems
Photo: DSC
Selawik — 1982
Map by Adam Cox
Alaska731,449 residents
Anchorage garden — 1982
Bureau of Economic Analysis
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$ billion
s (20
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Personal income in Alaska, 1969 ‐ 2012 (adjusted)
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Bureau of Economic Analysis
40% public!
149,000residents (22%) earn less than
185% of poverty
Census Bureau
One in five Alaska children (20%) are food insecure
Hunger is prevalent
Feeding America, 2014
Low‐income Alaskans receive some $185 million of SNAP benefits from the federal
government
This is 13 times the value of all food products produced
by farms in the state
Low-income access
Bureau of Economic Analysis & Census of Agriculture, 2012
Food is an important business in Alaska, generating more than $5 billion in sales
Food is an important business
Meter & Phillips Goldenberg, Building Food Security in Alaska, 2014
Alaska consumers...
Alaskans purchase $2 billion of food each year
Visitors purchase even more
Estimated from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 2011
Alaskans depend on Outside
$millionsMeats, poultry, fish & eggs 242 Fruits & vegetables 230 Cereals & bakery 150 Dairy products 128 Other 412
Estimated from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 2011
Food purchased for home use
AlaskaFood & Farm Economy
762 farms
Source: USDA Agriculture Census 2012
$ millions1 Ornamentals 13.02 Hay 4.43 Vegetables 3.34 Misc. Livestock 2.85 Potatoes 2.56 Cattle & calves 1.77 Dairy products 1.38 Barley 1.0
Total for humans $14 of $30 million
Top Alaska farm products
Census of Agriculture, 2012
95% of the food Alaskans purchase is sourced outside the state
James Drew, former Dean of the agriculture school at UAF, 1977
Alaskans import most food
Alaskans spend $1.9 billion per year buying food sourced Outside
Estimated from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 2011
Alaskans depend on Outside
Palmer
Source: Census of Agriculture 2012
241 farms sell direct to consumers
(32% of farms)
AlaskaFood & Farm Economy
$2.2 million of sales directly from farmers to consumers
This rivals the value of the state’s potato crop
Census of Agriculture, 2012
Alaskans more likely to connect
Direct sales rose 32% over the past five years, and
now run at 13 times the national average
Census of Agriculture, 2012
Alaskans more likely to connect
Direct sales bring in one of every six dollarsearned by farmers who raise
food for consumer use
Census of Agriculture, 2012
Alaskans more likely to connect
Consumers matter
…farms would earn $188 millionof new revenue
(Four times current sales)
If each resident bought $5 of food directly from Alaska farms each week...(& if such farmers existed)
In 2011, Alaska exported $3.2 billion of seafood
It is estimated that 60‐70% of Alaska seafood
is sold to export markets
Alaska exports seafood
McDowell Group, 2013
Alaskan seafood is shipped to Seattlefor processing, then
back to Alaska grocery stores
Alaska Food Policy Council Town Hall Meetings, 2014
Alaskans want better local options
95% of Kenai Peninsula residents have access to local seafood —
mostly through sport or subsistence fishing
Only 2‐5% purchase locally caught seafood from a
commercial fisher or grocer
Loring, Gerlach, & Harrison 2013
Alaskans rely on hunting & fishing
Economic value of subsistence fishing, hunting, and gathering$400 million / year
Economic value of hunting & fishing for personal use
$500 million / year
AK Division of Fish and Game
Alaskans rely on hunting & fishing
Alaska
“I never saw finer or more bountiful pasture….Were it not for the long winters, [Alaska] would be capital stock country,
equaling Texas and the prairies of the old West.”
— John Muir, 1915
Alaska inspires bold dreams
Travels in Alaska
“C.C. Georgeson…estimated that Alaska could furnish 320‐acre homesteads to 200,000
families and support a population of at least three million.”
— Orlando Miller, 1975
Alaska inspires bold dreams
The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony
This, of course, overlooked Native communities and their connection to the land
Alaska inspires bold dreams
In 1916 and 1917, Farmers and businessmenin Fairbanks began to collaborate to achieve
self‐sufficiency in food production….
Yet these hopes were never realized
— Papp and Phillips, 2007
Alaskans have long sought security
Like a Tree to the Soil: A History of Farming n Alaska's Tanana Valley, 1903-1940.
Since much of Alaska’s development came from various mining and natural resource booms…
transportation systems and markets were not built around agricultural systems, but rather
around mining
Infrastructure works against local
Meter & Phillips Goldenberg, Building Food Security in Alaska, 2014
“The only agriculture of any scale or indication of permanence [in the state] has developed in
the Matanuska Valley.
This probably developed largely because it came about
as part of a total program.”
—Gazaway, 1960
Public action has been effective
Facts and Observations on Agricultural Development in Alaska
State of Alaska
Matanuska Valley — 1982
Cities often built on best farmland
Map by Adam Cox
Cities often built on best farmland
Palmer
Selawik — 1982
What has persisted is the culture of villages, the dedication of Native people to celebrate
nature, share work with each other, and build a solid sense of place by hunting, fishing, and
gathering
Even today, 12,000 years after the first settlement, this is the strongest way that
Alaskans obtain locally raised food
What has persisted
Meter & Phillips Goldenberg, Building Food Security in Alaska, 2014
Traditional foods are high in protein, but not in calories
Traditional foods are valuable
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 2014
A variety of pressures are combining to create uncertainty for Native hunters and fishermen: cost of fuel, weather change, flooding, shifting
migratory patterns, and radiation
Pressures on subsistence gathering
Meter & Phillips Goldenberg, Building Food Security in Alaska, 2014
Selawik — 1982
The Alaska Native age‐adjusted rate of death from preventable chronic diseases ran 1.4 to 2.1 times
that of their White peers
Some analysts note that weight‐related health conditions are closely correlated with moving away
from traditional foods to purchased foods
Purchased diet invokes public costs
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, 2014
Widening losses
Roberta Townsend-Vennel, 2014, representing a tribal position
Often the people who captained subsistence hunting parties were also
commercial fishers
When they sold their fishing permits, often no one in their families had the equipment
required to fish for subsistence
Many people could no longer access traditional foods
As people turn to stores for their food, this leads to the loss of language,
since people have fewer occasions where they draw upon these skills
Turning to stores threatens culture
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 2014
Native elders tell stories about the ways that raising food was a normal part of life
in many remote villages
“That all went out with the food programs….When provisions began to be delivered to villages, people often let go of
their gardens.”
Impact of food programs
Roberta Townsend Vennel, 2014, representing a tribal position
Kotzebue — 1982
Direct medical costs of treating conditions related to obesity
(for all Alaskans) are estimated at $459 million per year
Purchased diet invokes public costs
Trogdon, et al, 2012
Kotzebue — 1982
“Food is our best connection.
Culture is medicine.”
Cultural importance
Ken Hoyt, Wrangell, 2014
Palmer Experiment Station — 1982
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$millions
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Crop & livestock sales in Alaska, 1969 ‐ 2012
Livestock Crops
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Aquaculture included in “livestock”
Nursery crop
boom
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
$150 million gain 1989-2003;
$58 million lost since 2004
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
$14 million less than 1969
• Farmers produce $35 million of commodities per year
AlaskaFarm & Food Economy
and…
Lose $6 million in production costs
• Spend $41 million to raise them
Averages for (2004‐2012)
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
AlaskaFood & Farm Economy
• Farm families earn $4 million of other farm‐related income
• And receive $7 million in federal supports each year (2004‐2012)
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Palmer airport
51% of farms reported a net loss in 2012
Census of Agriculture, 2012
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
$30 million of these farm inputs are sourced outside the state
Source: Ken Meter using data from Agriculture Census 2007
Using local inputs would reduce these losses
Compost at Pleasantview Farm (Circleville, Ohio)
• Foster subsistence harvesting and related skills
• Build personal skills in agriculture
• Expand agriculture and gardening
• Build infrastructure that supports local food production
• Adopt state policy that supports local food production
Key recommendations
• Focus consumer attention on staying loyal to Alaska‐grown food
• Expand food processing and manufacturing for in‐state markets
• Strengthen internal food distribution networks
• Strengthen statewide transparency and coordination
Key recommendations
If Alaskans want to eat more local food, they will eat more food that can be grown in the state
• Seafood• Greens & vegetables• Root crops• Meat• Dairy• Grains
And they will eat less that needs to be imported
Key recommendations
How much land would be required to provide all of Alaska’s demand?[At current rates of consumption]
acres
• Potatoes 4,700• Carrots 200• Cabbage 200• Lettuce 600
Key recommendations
Winter storage is key
• Community caches
• On‐farm storage
• Root cellars in homes
Key recommendations
Proposed “Food Web” in South Carolina
Food production “nodes”That feed Food Hubs
Incubator farm with packing shed
Incubator farm with packing shed
5 acres 5 acres
5 acres5 acres5 acres
Packing shed
One possible food
production node
One possible food
production node
Distribution
Staging
Commercial kitchen
Offices
Utilities
Washing & Storage
Proposed “Food Web” in Alaska
Proposed “Food Web” in Alaska
Nenana is a chance to:
Set aside farm land
Build local infrastructure
Supply country towns with Alaska foods
Key recommendations
Two dairy farms have switchedto on‐farm processing
Restoring a larger‐scale processing industry will be difficult as long as imported milk is
relatively inexpensive
Key recommendations
Plans for beef production for export are on hold
Some reindeer herders want to export
Key recommendations
Raising food for export is limited by:
• Lack of farming skills
• Lack of Alaska‐grown inputs/cost of imports
• Rising oil prices will make this less attractive
• This will do little to feed Alaskans
Key recommendations
Entrepreneurs suggest taking smaller steps to move forward
Key recommendations
Key recommendations
The key is to build consumer loyalty
Key recommendations
Alaska should further market the concept of buying local foods:
• Eat five fruits and vegetables per day
• Buy $5 of food each week from an Alaska farm
Key recommendations
Artwork by Carrie Cline
Cortez, Colorado
Adopt marketing campaign
Alaska should train youth in food literacy:
• Farming skills
• Safe food handling
• Food preparation
Key recommendations
The State’s investment of $3 million per year for schools to buy local food is the most significant investment now being made
Key recommendations
Kodiak
Roberta Townsend-Vennel, 2014, representing a tribal position
“Key to ensuring that these food‐growing activities last over time
is to try to make growing food a part of the daily routine.”
Kodiak
Photos: Kodiak Public Schools
Build:Health WealthConnectionCapacity
Vision for local food economies
“Finding Food in Farm Country”
www.crcworks.org
(612) 869-8664
kmeter@crcworks.org
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