Download - Building Food security in Alaska - · PDF fileKen Meter Crossroads Resource Center (Minneapolis) Building Food security in Alaska Alaska Food Festival & Conference Anchorage, Alaska

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

Tim Meyers Farm, Bethel

Wasilla

Palmer

Centers for Disease ControlDelivery to the Country

Angoon

Chena Hot Springs

Taco Loco, Anchorage

Taco Loco

Photo: Anabel Galindo

Calypso Farm, Ester

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

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

$ billion

s (20

12)

Personal income in Alaska, 1969 ‐ 2012 (adjusted)



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


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


Alaskans depend on Outside

Palmer

Source: Census of Agriculture 2012

241 farms sell direct to consumers

(32% of farms)


$2.2 million of sales directly from farmers to consumers

This rivals the value of the state’s potato crop


Alaskans more likely to connect

Direct sales rose 32% over the past five years, and

now run at 13 times the national average



Direct sales bring in one of every six dollarsearned by farmers who raise

food for consumer use



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


The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony

This, of course, overlooked Native communities and their connection to the land


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


“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


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


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

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50 1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

$millions

(2012)

Crop & livestock sales in Alaska, 1969 ‐ 2012

Livestock Crops

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Aquaculture included in “livestock”

Nursery crop

boom

$150 million gain 1989-2003;

$58 million lost since 2004


$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)



• Farm families earn $4 million of other farm‐related income

• And receive $7 million in federal supports each year (2004‐2012)


Palmer airport

51% of farms reported a net loss in 2012


$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

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

[email protected]

Download - Building Food security in Alaska - · PDF fileKen Meter Crossroads Resource Center (Minneapolis) Building Food security in Alaska Alaska Food Festival & Conference Anchorage, Alaska

Top Related