How Agriculture Works in Alaska
(2021©donnliston.com)
The theme of the long-time Spenard
bar fits many, but not all, Alaska farmers.
Alaska gardeners are familiar with the work of Jeff Lowenfels, a local authority on plants and gardening, who together with Wayne Lewis wrote a book called Teaming with Microbes for those who want to grow organic food. There is a cult around this way of thinking but in reality growing food for mass consumption requires the use of fertilizers. [1]
I appreciate this fact because my
own grandparents were Oklahoma sharecroppers who were blown off the land during
the Dustbowl and Great Depression of the early 1930s. My father was born the
week of the stock market crash in October of 1929, and was passed around among
poverty-stricken relatives for care, until Ray and Opel Liston packed up
everything they had and headed toward California. They only made it as far as
New Mexico, where my grandfather found work as a laborer and carpenter. My dad
managed to graduate high school and I was born in Albuquerque when he was 22 years
old.
Oklahoma farmers didn’t use
fertilizer. By this time settlers to the Southern Plains region of the United
States had plowed up millions of acres of native grasslands to plant wheat,
corn and other crops. But as the United States entered the Great Depression,
wheat prices plummeted. Farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest
a bumper crop and break even, according to History.com.
My own grandparents could have
played the movie roles of the Joad family from John Steinbeck’s book The
Grapes of Wrath. Crops had begun to fail with the onset of drought in
1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses
to hold the soil in place (or irrigation) the topsoil blew away.[2]
This circumstance impacted my
father in ways I have never understood. His own westward journey ended in
Alaska, where a lot of psychologically damaged people end up.
The Science of Fertilizer
Management
These fertilizers helped us
explode the amount of food we could grow. Now we have become adverse to the
chemicals found in fertilizers because we have discovered some of the negative
effects they can have, explained Dr. Stephen Brown, a teacher and
researcher based in the Mat-Su Valley, with the University of Alaska
Fairbanks Extension Service. Brown specializes in Precision Agriculture
which he explained further: With
chemical fertilizers we are not at the point where traditional agriculture can
move beyond their use because organic fertilizers are difficult to apply. The
majority of agriculture is using fertilizers. We are trying to figure out how
to transition away from that to a more natural agriculture model, but we have a
long way to go.
Prof. Brown came to Alaska some
15 years ago to help bring our agriculture practices into the modern age. It
has been a challenge, but rewarding, too.
He explained: My research
field, Precision Agriculture, tries to help farmers distribute the least amount
of fertilizer necessary to achieve optimum results. Let’s say this table is a
field. Using technology we can map foot-by-foot the nutrient levels across this
whole field. So, once I have a precision map of existing nutrient levels, we
use technology that is present in Alaska that allows me to write a prescription
for individual farmers, who can input that into their tractor’s computer to
allow application of fertilizer on a precision foot-by-foot basis. It is very
common now in the rest of the country but it is relatively new to Alaska.
It was my ticket to Alaska, added
Brown.
Traditionally farmers would
take soil samples from various spots around the field, merge them all together,
and turn the sample in for an average picture, Brown continued. Then we (at
the UAF Extension Service) would make a fertilizer recommendation based on the
average. Now, with Precision Agriculture we can say “you are low in nitrogen
here, you are high in nitrogen over here, so let’s adjust the application rate
across this entire area to meet the needs more accurately. The result is 1) it
saves farmers money, and 2) it decreases over-application according to needs of
the crops.
https://www.uaf.edu/ianre/about/impacts/impactfiles/mat-su%20social%20media.pdf
Let’s call it Common Sense
Farming with Technology
The big thing about chemical
fertilizer is that it is so concentrated that it kills the natural flora and
fauna of the soil, continued Brown, but it works! The bacteria and fungi
that are normally present in the soil help plants uptake nutrients in a low
nutrient environment. But when you add concentrated chemical fertilizer, it
kills those bacteria and fungi.
The issue is concentration levels.
For instance, 832-16 fertilizer is
very high in nitrogen, which kills a fungi called Mycorrhizal.
That was one of my primary areas
of research, said Brown. Mycorrizal normally form a symbiosis with about
80 percent of the world’s plants. They help plants in low-nutrient soil to
survive. High levels of concentrated chemicals kill the fungi, but the plants
still do well because of the high concentrate of chemicals: The example I use
in my classes is I used to have a great aunt who was addicted to laxatives.
Taking those laxatives wasn’t good for her but it worked.
But is this practical in Alaska’s
majority of small subsistence farms? How many have tractors with computerized
fertilizer distribution systems?
We have to start somewhere: Previously
I had never had anybody come into my office and say “I want to become a farmer,”
explained Brown. Everyplace I have ever been you either grew up on a farm or
you worked on a farm to gain the knowledge of how to do it. When during that
first year I had a lady come in and say “I want to learn how to farm” I didn’t
know where to start. So, we started Farmer’s Schools, to teach people
the fundamentals of farming. We have Tractor Schools where we teach
people how to drive a tractor, how to operate implements, but to me the biggest
program we have is the Master Gardener Program. We teach people how to
grow food. Most are not selling the food to other people; they are just using
it to feed themselves..
Brown explained that there has
been a huge explosion of interest in growing gardens since Covid started. Presently
I have 50 people in my Master Gardener class. We will teach it again in the
fall and I bet you there will be 100 people enrolled then, he said.
Misinformation about chemicals
used in farming has led to some interesting situations for Brown, as well..
A few years back the Matsu School District wanted to build a school on a legacy farm, explained Brown. In the public hearing they said “We’re only going to take up six acres,”. Members of the community argued that with those six acres people would build houses nearby, and small businesses, next to the Vanderweele farm. I spoke as an authority on why this was a bad idea and nobody listened. But when Ben Vanderweele, owner of the adjoining farm spoke into the microphone, he said: “I use chemicals on my crops.”
That shut the whole thing down,
said Brown.
But there is more to it, Brown
continued: People don’t understand herbicides, they are strictly regulated
in Alaska. I teach the (UAF Extension Service) Alaska Herbicide License Course. There is
no reason to be afraid of herbicide use by conscientious farmers, because of
the scrutiny they go through to be licensed. The license--which must be renewed every
three years—is extremely intense. That is why most of the farmers in Alaska
don’t apply herbicides. There is too much to keep up with.
This may be a good thing for
the reputation of Alaskan grown products which many people view as pristine.
What about food security, feeding
Alaskans?
That is a complicated problem,
but I will say that when I first got here 15 years ago there were 10 Farmer’s
Markets statewide, concluded Brown. There are now more than 50. The
problem is at the Farmer’s Markets the food is more expensive than what you can
buy at the grocery store. In fact, I know a couple of vendors who buy produce
at Fred Meyers, mark it up and sell it at the Farmer’s Market!
Hail Alaska’s Chilkoot Charley farmers.
[1] Teaming with Microbes,
Jeff Lowenfeld & Wayne Lewis,
https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131
Description:
When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial
life that sustains plants, and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal
of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious
circle, and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than
destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with
life—not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria,
fungi, and other microorganisms. This must-have guide is for everyone, from
those devoted to organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply
want to grow healthy plants without resorting to chemicals.
[2] The Great Depression
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl
