Lori Townsend: Farming in Alaska has changed and expanded in recent years.

As seasons lengthen and innovations and farming techniques advance, advocates for eco-friendly farming see big potential.

Unknown: This is the opportunity to create a new, regenerative economy based on conservation and restoration and not extraction.

Lori Townsend: We'll discuss what's new in sustainable agriculture and learn about how farming in Alaska is being redefined by small growers and farmers who raise crops in the sea.

That's coming up right now on Alaska Insight.

The definition of farming has expanded over time from soil-only planting and harvesting to include farmers that harvest from the sea.

Along the coast kelp farming is seeing growth as a sustainable industry with economic and environmental benefits.

Alaska Public Media's Adelyn Baxter has more.

Unknown: Off the coast of Prince of Wales Island, Markos Scheer and his team have just harvested their latest crop of kelp in a bay a few miles south of Craig.

Seaweeds have a tremendous nutritional components.

You know it has potassium, it has calcium, it has magnesium.

It has vitamin B 12 in it.

Scheer is the CEO and founder of Seagrove Kelp Company.

After 20 years as an attorney specializing in fishery and maritime law, he started the company in 2016.

He says kelp farming and the wider mariculture industry have huge potential here.

Alaska has 35,000 miles of coastline, some of the most pristine waters in the world.

There are underutilized seafood processing facilities in almost every coastal city.

Mariculture in Alaska includes not only kelp but shellfish and other sea products excluding fish, which is illegal to farm in the state.

The seaweed industry globally produces about 30-31 million tons of seaweed every year, which is more than you know, say lemons and limes as far as total volume.

It's a many billion dollar industry.

Countries like Japan, China and Indonesia continue to dominate the seaweed industry.

But Scheer says the US is making headway.

And after its first successful harvest season, so is his company.

We've only harvested one year and we sold the majority of that product.

And we are hopeful that this year we will do we will do the same.

We we get a fair number of inquiries of people that want to do things with seaweeds, because of its sustainability, because of the nutritional components, because of the Alaska brand.

Tiffany Stephens is the chief scientist and research director for Seagrove Kelp Company.

She says the growing process is fairly simple.

Basically, we're doing the most minimal production that we can.

So the most that we're doing is putting out anchors, temporarily installing lines and then letting kelp just grow without us doing much else to it.

And then we come back months later, harvest it, remove the lines and start again the next season.

Profit isn't the only goal.

The company is also focused on sustainability, and the benefits of the low impact techniques used in commercial kelp farming.

The seaweed provides habitat for wildlife and it doesn't need fertilizer or much infrastructure to grow.

Dune Lankard is the executive director of the Native Conservancy, based in Cordova.

He sees mariculture as an opportunity for fishing communities like his own to help combat climate change impacts like ocean acidification, and warming, The more kelp and the more mariculture we can get in the water is only better for the ocean, in the long run.

Lankard works with Alaska Native kelp farmers and people from all over the US and other countries who consult with him.

He's also a former commercial and subsistence fishermen.

After years of watching natural resource extraction play out in Alaska.

He says it feels good to be part of an industry that's giving back.

This is the opportunity to create a new, regenerative economy based on conservation and restoration and not extraction.

So I think it's, it's a win win win for the environment and the people and the planet and the economy.

Lankard and Scheer both hope to see kelp production grow in Alaska until it rivals the billions of dollars generated by Alaska's other seafood exports annually.

With time, Scheer says there's no reason Alaska couldn't become the mariculture capital of the world.

For Alaska Public Media, I'm Adelyn Baxter.

Lori Townsend: Good evening, tonight's discussion is a favorite for me.

I grew up in farming families and co ran a dairy and crop farm myself many years ago.

So working the land is in my blood.

Joining me tonight to discuss sustainable farming in Alaska are Ronalda Angasan, agriculture program director for Alaska Village Initiatives and a member of the Alaska Food Policy Council, and Rob Carter.

Rob is the state agronomist and plant material center manager for the Alaska Division of Agriculture.

Thanks so much to both of you for being here tonight.

Let's, let's start right in.

Rob, for Alaskans who are unfamiliar with ag terms, describe your job: what is an agronomist?

Unknown: An agronomist traditionally is someone that works with farmers or works with agricultural producers in any portion of the world that assists and provides education, information technology advancements to help them better their ability to produce and to generate revenue for their farm.

And of course, to do that in a in a reasonable and profitable way.

Lori Townsend: We're nearing the end of April, spring is finally waking up in Alaska.

What are farmers doing right now to prepare for spring planting?

Unknown: Most farmers if they're into into specialty crops, things like broccoli and kale and cauliflower and cabbage, they've already got their transplants growing in their greenhouses.

If they're a greenhouse operation, that's a controlled environment, they've got plants that are much bigger than that and are on their way to fruit production, such as tomatoes or cucumbers.

And a lot of them have been doing that for the previous months.

Other origin and fiber folks are getting ready to seed.

That all changes based on the day and location in the state of Alaska.

Those folks up further north have a couple of weeks to go and here in the Matanuska Valley, we're looking to go in the next few days.

So get seeds in the ground and get growing.

Lori Townsend: Alright, so it's real close then to actually being able to work in fields in the Valley.

Yes.

All right.

Ronalda, tell us about the ag program through the Alaska Village Initiative.

How do you assist rural farmers?

And are you seeing a lot of growth in interest and in people people attempting rural farming Unknown: Yes, there's a growing number of people in our rural communities looking to get into agriculture, whether it's farms, ranches, or gardens, micro farms, which are bigger gardens.

After the 2018 earthquake, there was a big focus on food security in our rural communities.

With that came trying to get agriculture into those communities.

So it's there, it's not waiting for to come from Anchorage.

Lori Townsend: Yes, that certainly has been a growing awareness and concern among Alaskans, as we've seen with supply line disruptions and concerns over getting enough groceries and other things here.

The website, your website is impressive and really packed with a lot of information about advancements in growing techniques, training, grants.

What are some of the funding opportunities available to rural Alaskans who want to start growing their own food and also for those who want to grow to sell to others?

Unknown: Right now, the one grant that we are promoting is the Native American Agricultural Fund grant.

Their proposal, the RFP came out a few weeks ago, and it's coming up there soon.

If there are any communities, individuals, farmers, that would like to look at partnering for that they can get a hold of me.

Or if they just need some guidance on how to apply they can also reach out.

We work a lot with USDA and enter with NRCS to look for federal funding for different projects and programs in the community surrounding agriculture and conservation.

Lori Townsend: Has that grown significantly you were mentioning, you know, after the earthquake, a lot more interest in food security.

So has that interest grown in recent years and the availability of funds for training and equipment and things like high tunnels, is that kind of matching the rate of interest that you're seeing?

Unknown: There's more and more opportunities.

There's a lot of federal funding coming out for the farmers and ranchers throughout the United States.

But there's a big focus on Native, Native Alaska, Alaskan Native farmers and ranchers.

Lori Townsend: So there's more increasing amounts of funds.

Unknown: There is, there's an increasing amount of funds and to the tribal governments as well.

I'm working with a few different tribal governments on some different projects, and we have federal funding for those projects.

Lori Townsend: And what are some of those?

Are they looking to build greenhouses?

Or what what kind of startups are they thinking about?

Unknown: Right now we have a huge focus on hydroponics.

Looking at getting food into our communities around, we didn't know or we were looking at how to do that.

And the one solution we are trying to do now is a hydroponics with alternative energy and different building materials to see what works in each region, which works in each community and to grow the different crops that they are looking to grow.

Lori Townsend: I want us to drill down a little bit there more in a few minutes, because certainly energy is the big factor in what you can afford to do there.

But Rob, I want to turn back to you.

What about the state programs and do funding programs require a certain amount of acreage to qualify or can an urbanite get assistance for backyard growing if they want to?

Unknown: Well, from our perspective in the Division of Agriculture, we do manage a lot of pasture funds, federal dollars that come to us on specific needs.

We have one now, out now we have specially crop block grants that are specific to producers for a specific task.

And there is a majority of those no limit on who may apply.

In the sense of Alaska and agriculture, you have to remember that all our farms in Alaska are small farms comparatively with those across the nation, and globally.

So we have folks that apply that are you know, backyard researchers and we have large scale, you know, Alaska agricultural producers also apply.

So as far as a limit, it is they are very specific into into what the the funds can be used for.

Generally, they need to be there to increase food security, like our micro grants that are coming out and rolling out now, all around the state of Alaska or something like our specialty crop that actually helps the industry, a small large producer can approach and apply for an opportunity to to generate a new idea, generate a innovative strategy to produce more.

And then that's shared with the general agricultural producers and public through reporting, so other people can learn from from those activities.

Lori Townsend: Are there some or what are some of the new sort of northern hardy crop varieties that you're seeing and maybe excited about that can do well here and that, and how has that grown in recent years?

Unknown: I think that we've seen a shift, a lot more small grain production.

A lot of that has to do with end use.

We've seen a lot more micro distilleries and micro breweries showing up, we've seen an increase in protein production, livestock.

So of course, grain is a great feed.

We've initially rolled out an industrial hemp program here from the state of Alaska.

And there's big interest in that for food, fiber and feed, and a lot of, or bio remediation using live plants.

But the unique thing about Alaska and anyone that's from here is that spent time here is Alaskans are very ingenuitive, they always come up with ways to do things.

Crops that you traditionally wouldn't see here are grown here, in controlled environments, the addition of the massive amounts of high tunnels and greenhouses around the state and the opportunity to get those through certain USDA programs.

It really increased production of some warmer weather crops that we can now do in our shorter season.

Lori Townsend: I want to start with you, Rob, then Ronalda, I'd like you to pick it up.

The loss of biodiversity is a growing concern.

Apples are a good example.

There were once tens of thousands of varieties.

And now there are only a few thousand.

Honeybee Colony Collapse is also an issue and a big problem.

How does Alaska compared to other states for these concerns?

And are there opportunities for varieties here that could help add to species diversity for other states?

Unknown: I think that Alaska is very lucky.

We are geographically isolated.

We're in a northern climate.

So traditionally, crops that historically grow well here are limited.

We've increased that with technology, and of course, with some longer, longer summers and earlier springs around the state.

But a lot of the varieties that we grow here, or species of plants that we grow here generally aren't used in large scale commercial corporate agricultural production.

The yields aren't high enough their disease and pest resistance isn't great enough.

So we do have a really good opportunity to find older heirloom varieties and species that have, you know, we call varieties ones that have been on the farm for years and years and years that do produce well in our northern regions and our short seasons.

So I think there is a good probability there.

But again, our isolation from large scale agriculture has really limits the amount of pests and disease that we have.

And it's very important to make sure that we keep those pests and disease out with survey work and rapid response to invasive species in the state of Alaska to protect our natural resources and our agricultural production.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

Ronalda, how about for you?

I know that there's been discussion about trying to take some traditional plants, blueberries, salmon berries, some of the greens that that grow on the tundra and trying to sort of get those into some kind of commercial growing application.

Are you seeing success with any of those efforts?

Unknown: Right now we're we are just starting those projects, we are looking at these year round garden units.

And within those, we are looking at what kind of traditional foods we can grow in them.

Whether it's because there is a lack from environmental change, or overharvesting, we're looking at the different varieties that we can grow in those units.

Lori Townsend: So there are efforts underway right now to try to see how well is that happening in high tunnels?

Is that what your Unknown: Indoor garden units, they're a, they are an experimental unit that we are starting to build with alternative energy and with alternative materials.

How much Lori Townsend: hydroponic farming is underway right now?

Are there actually some operations that are going in rural Alaska?

Unknown: There are.

There's a growing number of communities interested in getting into them, and ones that have already started.

We have reached out and we are starting to get funding out to those communities to get units put in there for them for either at the schools or tribal offices, or just at a community center.

Lori Townsend: All right, that's exciting.

Rob, let's turn back to you.

What are your thoughts about the practicality of things such as hydroponics, we know that energy in rural Alaska is very expensive, so can it pencil out?

Unknown: I think that there's that's part of that.

Promises stay humble.

I believe that that profitability, original revenue is one of the most important things when defining sustainability of any type of agricultural practice.

I think with the advancements of LED technology, and renewable energy sources, those costs have come down.

I think the biggest learning curve for controlled environment production is they are finicky systems, they take a lot of knowledge content to operate.

Soil is a beautiful thing when it comes to delaying the effects of nutrient gains or losses.

And so making sure that the knowledge transfer is there for people that are unfamiliar with these systems to make sure that they're they can be operated efficiently and effectively.

I believe that there is an option, and as we start to look at other forms of energy, things like tidal, wind, or, or even solar, you start to then balance out that initial cost of the systems, these systems have long life.

And so really, I think time will tell, technology will tell and of course, then how we transfer that knowledge to people that are that are historically agricultural producers that aren't aware of hydroponics or aeroponics.

And as long as that system is places, there's a good process in place for people to understand how these things work.

And then incorporation of some of those renewable resources, you may build a balance these systems out and be able to produce and even if they're in that, your income and your and your your outputs are low, but and your expenditures are high.

It still provides a big sense of food security to a lot of our local communities it pride provides access to much fresher, much healthier food.

So I think there's a balance there.

And there may be it may be equal in cost at this point for someone to produce in rural Alaska in a controlled environment.

But that's also very important that they now have a better sense of food security in their community and they have better access to higher quality food.

Lori Townsend: Yeah, it just creates a better sense of well being overall.

There are a lot of different ways to grow crops and just outside of Palmer, one small scale sustainable farmer describes her practices as "beyond organic."

Here's a quick snapshot of how she's prepping her fields right now to grow vegetables, herbs and fruit for her community in the Mat-Su Valley.

Unknown: My name is Zoey Fuller.

I'm the farmer here at Singing Nettle farm on Lazy Mountain, our growing season is super short, we have 110 frost free days.

So we really have to maximize our growing season to the extent that we can.

So today we're sprinkling wood ash on about half acre, it's just fireplace ash.

And we just do that to darken the snow.

And yeah, get it melting, melting quicker, and it also adds some nutrients and micronutrients.

We really do as much as we can to keep our growing practices super sustainable.

We use locally sourced amendments for the soil whenever we can.

Another thing that we really care about is doing as much as we can to make our vegetables accessible.

We have partnerships with different local organizations, including Alaska tilsit coordinates with food banks.

So our major goal is to like be in reciprocity with the land and reciprocity with their communities, right?

And so I nourish the soil so that it can nourish us.

And that relationship is is critical.

That's foundational.

Lori Townsend: So great to see all those growing, bright colors, thanks to Jeff Chen and Emily Schwing for producing that profile from Palmer this week.

So Ronalda, I want to go back to you.

For rural Alaskans who are used to seasonal harvesting that takes them to fish camp or out to hunting camp, is it a big mind shift to kind of make that transition to growing crops that require attention?

Somebody has to be close by, you can't leave for weeks.

Unknown: Now, we've taken that into consideration when we're looking at these different projects.

We work with the community to make sure that they have that support, and have that person in place so that they can make sure that the growing happens and the maintenance on the units happen.

And whatever they need is there and whatever training they need, we will help her help them with that.

Right now we are creating a curriculum to take care of how to maintain a hydroponic unit in your garden, how to maintain high tunnels, greenhouses, because some of these communities, they're experiencing vegetables for the first time.

And with that they don't know how to grow them, or even cook them.

So we're working with them on how to take care of that.

Lori Townsend: That's fantastic.

Rob, pick up there.

There's a lot of variation.

Ronalda, had noted in an earlier interview that there are six or so climate regions in the state.

And even in the city, there's a lot of variation in a place like Anchorage there are microclimates.

How much does that really affect what people can grow from one part of the city to the next?

And where should they start contacting your office and getting soil samples checked out?

Or what should they do to get themselves started?

Unknown: I think that yes, there are a multitude of ways to interpret your zone that the USDA really has a program out there.

And they're a great, they're a great cornerstone for kind of identifying what plants and what types of plants you can produce in your region.

But again, with microclimates, elevation, soil type, a lot of that changes within that.

I think that people that are interested in growing any plants, it's again, it's that knowledge transfer, with the access to the internet, you can join local gardening clubs, you can join the Masters Gardeners Association, you can contact us at the Division of Agriculture, you can contact CES through the university.

There's a lot of resources out there.

But getting to know the other folks in your area that produce is very important.

Because a lot of them have done what you've thought you can do, we all aren't reinventing the wheel as much as we'd like to think we are.

And you can identify, you know, areas on your property or the area of your city or your community that you live in and identify what plants have historically done well, which ones have been doing better there for the last few years.

And what technology or methodologies those producers are using to to achieve a crop in those areas.

Lori Townsend: All right, thank you and in about 30 seconds Ronalda, can you give us just a snapshot about what the Alaska Food Policy Council does and offers?

Unknown: Alaska Food Policy Council, you could become a member, we work on advocacy for different food, food systems, agriculture and other - sorry - food systems agriculture projects and programs and looking at the regulations and what can impede us from growing our own food or what needs to be changed and we are moving, moving forward with new programs and projects daily.

Lori Townsend: Alright, Well, thank you so much to both view, Ronalda and Rob for being with us this evening.

That's it for this episode of Alaska Insight.

Be sure to tune in daily to your local public radio station for Alaska Morning News and Alaska News Nightly each week night.

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All episodes of Alaska Insight and related video content are at alaskapublic.org/alaskainsight.

Thanks for joining us this evening.

I'm Lori Townsend.

Good night.