Across the seasons

Farmer cultivates agricultural progress

January 31, 2006

Vicki Naegele\For the Frontiersman

For eight decades, Alaska agriculture has prospered and floundered. Through it all, Palmer's Wayne Bouwens has been an unabashed supporter of farming.

Bouwens carved a niche here for himself, not only as a farmer but as a community leader. At 76, Bouwens is giving up some of those formal leadership roles - even those to which he has devoted himself for decades.

Bouwens served on the Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District Board since about 1965. After 40-some years, memories are dusty and files have been lost, but Bouwens remembers joining the board not long after he took over the Tom Moffitt dairy farm off Fishhook Road in 1964.

That was 30 years after he arrived in Palmer at the age of 5 to start a new life as an original Matanuska Valley Colonist. Part of a family of 11, Bouwens grew up working on the homestead farm. When his father, a butcher by trade and part-time law enforcement officer back in Rhinelander, Wis., became the area's U.S. marshal, Bouwens and his younger brother spent their high school years working on the farm before it was broken up and portions sold to others.

Bouwens went to work for the Alaska Railroad and at Jonesville Coal Mine before buying the dairy farm and moving there with his wife, Margrye, and their five children; two more were born on the farm.

Farming was still young in Alaska, and Bouwens helped with the formation of such organizations as the National Milk Producers Board and the Matanuska Valley Breeders Association. He served on the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS, now Farm Service Agency) board. But to no organization was he more dedicated than the Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District Board, which he served as chairman for many years in five decades.

His motivation for such dedication to the industry is simple: &#8220To promote agriculture.”

Even 25 years ago, Bouwens could see the threats to agriculture looming. Colonists were selling their land for subdivisions, seeing it as a way to have money for retirement. Bouwens rallied for state programs to help stem the tide, but no one was listening. He joined the former Mat-Su Borough Ag and Forestry Board to try to designate land for agriculture.

&#8220We had to make sure this land that is supposed to be set aside for agriculture was set aside for agriculture,” Bouwens said. &#8220Agricultural land is worth saving.”

With the help of other advocates, Bouwens said they made a difference.

He recently submitted his name to the new borough real estate board, to represent Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District. The board will provide recommendations to the borough assembly on how to dispose of borough land. Bouwens' motivation is clear.

&#8220Somebody has got to bring it to the attention of the assembly that, ‘Hey, this (ag land) should be preserved,'” he said. Bouwens advocates a tax rate that is different for active agricultural land, inactive ag lands and unrestricted lands.

The optimistic Bouwens is also a realist. Though he sold his dairy farm in 1980 and retired as a state employee at the Palmer Experiment Farm in 1995, he's been part of the ongoing struggles of Alaska agriculture for more than 70 years.

&#8220I still believe that a good agricultural program in Alaska will make it if everybody will just cooperate with each other and the state will put in some facilities,” he said. &#8220They (state officials) subsidize fishing and the oil and everything else.”

While ups and downs in other industries seem to be taken in stride, agriculture has been a target of ongoing criticism. He watched as Point MacKenzie dairy farmers forged farms out of uncleared land, then saw that most of them failed. While many talk of the failures, Bouwens sees the progress made by farmers throughout this country's history.

&#8220It was homesteaders and agriculture that expanded west,” Bouwens pointed out. &#8220I think the Colony Project really opened up Alaska.”

Bouwens said there was no road from Anchorage to Palmer before the Colonists arrived, and no bridge over the Knik River. The growth generated by the Colonists spurred infrastructure development. Even the inroads into Point MacKenzie years later were paved by farmers, he said.

&#8220The people of Alaska have to know this history,” Bouwens said. &#8220To me, it is just as important as the Civil War and baseball.”

The &#8220Alaska Far Away” documentary project, spurred by the Palmer Historical Society, is a major effort to preserve the past. With adequate funding to pay for archival footage, Bouwens said the filmmakers expect to finish their project by next summer and market the film to PBS or The History Channel. This little-known chapter of American 20th-century history may be seen by millions.

&#8220It's just a part of history that should not be lost,” the Wisconsin-born Alaskan said.

For Bouwens, it is all about saving Alaska agriculture - preserving its past, promoting its present and protecting its future.

Protecting Alaska agriculture's future will require efforts on a variety of fronts, Bouwens said. Educating young Alaskans about the importance of agriculture is one such effort.

&#8220I think that education programs in the schools are a big thing,” said Bouwens, who has made his share of classroom visits. &#8220If we can convert the kids with ag programs in schools, then the parents will get involved.”

Niche marketing is the future of Alaska agriculture production, Bouwens says.

&#8220Maybe there isn't a market for big dairy farms but these niche farms - they seem to be doing fairly well,” he said.

Point MacKenzie farmers apparently agree. They are trying to secure federal funding for a small specialty processing plant for their milk.

One of the most important issues facing Alaska agriculture, Bouwens said, is preservation of farmland. He said there should be a more concerted effort to take advantage of a federal program that would help save farmlands.

&#8220Maybe we can only save one or two farms a year, but one is better than nothing,” he said. &#8220Something's got to be done.”

And it isn't just about agricultural production, he said. It is the lifestyle, the image and the quality of life agriculture adds to a community. It affects tourism and the entire character of Palmer.

&#8220That's what people come up to the Valley to see,” Bouwens said.

Bouwens' own future is in Alaska. All six of his and Marge's surviving children live in Alaska. The couple has 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

While Bouwens may be slowing down, his spirit of volunteerism isn't flagging. He devotes hours at the Colony museum and new Colony exhibit at the fairgrounds. He is serving on the temporary board of the new Palmer Museum of History and Art. He remains on the board of Palmer Historical Society, and continues his longtime work with the Palmer Pioneer Cemetery Association.

For Bouwens, there is always time for service. He flashed a self-effacing smile when asked why.

&#8220I guess I just like to do it.”