Ag breaks new business ground

MAT-SU — There’s a hand painted sign featuring the well-known Alaska Grown logo on the side of a greenhouse at the Palmer Visitor Center — “Ask for Alaska Grown: for you it means quality, for Alaska it means good jobs.”

The Alaska Grown logo was created in 1985 to highlight and promote agricultural products grown and cultivated in Alaska, and though the sign was painted shortly thereafter, its message is timeless.

“The more people buy Alaska Grown, the more people are employed by farmers,” said Ben VanderWeele, owner of VanderWeele Farm in Palmer. “It’s important to buy local, because the money stays local, too.”

VanderWeele Farm is one of 680 farms across the state, and one of the main commercial providers of Alaska Grown carrots, potatoes and other vegetables to grocery stores. VanderWeele’s three children and their families are supported by the farm, and the business employs more than 25 seasonal workers to plant and transplant, weed, prepare land and harvest product.

VanderWeele began farming in Alaska after emigrating from the Netherlands in 1967. A short growing season, coupled with cold weather, makes farming in Alaska more difficult than in other states, but VanderWeele insists that local product tastes better and is worth the effort. Farmers like VanderWeele are entirely supported by those who choose to purchase Alaska Grown.

Processing takes time away from farming, VanderWeele said, but it can be worth it. In the late 1980s, Ben’s son Roger moved back to Alaska with a crop science degree in hand.

“Another family had to make a living off the farm,” VanderWeele said, “so we had to get some additional income in the winter.”

The VanderWeele’s started by growing more carrots — a crop that stores well and can be sold year-round. After discovering a demand for Alaska Grown baby carrots, the VanderWeeles went to work cutting, peeling, sorting and bagging. Since 1989 VanderWeele has had success processing his carrots into baby carrot “Sweet Cuts” and selling them in grocery stores.

Value-added processing

In addition to the bounty he sells wholesale, VanderWeele also grows a special variety of chipping potato, which he sells to Ralph Carney.

Carney owns the Alaska Chip Company, which began in 2003 because he saw a demand for a local potato chip. Observing the success of other regional chips in Maui and Cape Cod, Carney decided to make kettle-style chips from Alaska Grown potatoes.

The business has grown over the years and Carney now produces 800 pounds of chips each day to sell at grocery stores, gift shops, convenience stores and to tourists on planes, trains, and cruises.

Carney explained that consumers need to demand local produce, like VanderWeele’s potatoes, before value added products can be developed and capitalized on.

“[Buying local] isn’t a new concept, it’s really taking hold,” Carney said, “but we still have a long way to go.”

Carney’s company directly employs five people full-time, but Carney insists that the potential for his business, and other’s like his, is immense.

“When you have local manufacturing you create jobs all along the way,” Carney said. “From the day someone puts a potato in the ground, to overseeing the growing cycle, harvest, product development, transport…all those steps require people.”

The Alaska economy will be stronger and have vertical integration if people buy local products, Carney said, and the money and jobs would stay in the state. Carney estimates that only 5 percent of Alaskans buy locally.

“That should be 50 percent,” Carney said. “If that happened, my company would be 10 times larger, and that’s just one business. That’s where we’ve got to be for a healthier economy.”

Even adding jobs to one business is important, said Scott Goldsmith, an economics professor emeritus and director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Although agriculture is not a large contributor to Alaska’s economy, one job created in the agricultural sector produces half a job somewhere else in the economy, Goldsmith said.

VanderWeele and Carney are not the only ones finding ways to manufacture and market value added agricultural products. The implementation of the Alaska Farm to School Program by the state Legislature in 2010 has helped farmers connect with food service professionals to have local agricultural products served in school lunch programs, said Kristi Krueger, Farm to School project assistant.

In order for product to be useable during the school year, she explained, it requires some additional processing. Several agriculturalists are working to develop French fried potato wedges and cole slaw, in order to use crops that grow well and can be stored during the school year.

Rhubarb has potential

Some have bigger dreams than selling to Alaskans, tourists, and the school nutrition program. Bruce Bush sees potential for export in rhubarb.

“Alaskan farmers should invest in rhubarb,” said Bush of Bushes Bunches. The cooler temperatures in Alaska allow for rhubarb to flourish and thrive all summer long, and can be grown well almost anywhere, he claimed.

In 2009, Bush perfected his recipe and sold rhubarb lemonade at the fair. The response was phenomenal, he said, so he collaborated with his wife Vickie, Carol Kenley and Ruby Hollembaek to start the Alaska Rhubarb Company in 2010.The farmers are currently looking into methods of juicing rhubarb in hopes to develop a juice product they could sell in and out of the state. They also want to enter the fresh and frozen rhubarb markets.

“It goes well with everything,” Bush said, “so we want to do what the cranberry people did and add it into other juices.”

The development of such a product could open the door for many farmers to sell their rhubarb to the company for processing. Farmers in the Matanuska Valley, Kodiak, Kenai Peninsula and Tanana Valley have all expressed interest and have begun expanding their rhubarb patches into fields, Bush said.

“When we can get this off the ground, it’ll really help out the economy,” Bush said. “It’ll be one of the first processed agricultural products in the state.”

New crop blooms

Another industry taking hold in Alaska is peony production. According to the Alaska Peony Growers Association, Alaskan peonies are especially prized for their large size, bright colors and high quality. Alaska peonies also are valuable because they can be grown in June, July and August: months when peonies aren’t available anywhere else in the world.

Michael Williams, of EagleSong Family Peony Farm, became interested in peonies after seeing a television special on cut flower research done at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The research indicated that peonies could become a viable industry in our state.

This information spurred interest, Williams said. There are currently 113 members of that Alaska Peony Growers Association, growing peonies from North Pole to Kachemak Bay. EagleSong is located 40 miles northwest of Anchorage near Mount Susitna and is accessible only by plane.

Because peonies take several years to mature, Williams will sell his first cut flowers in two weeks at the Anchorage Downtown Market and Festival, and plans to sell commercially next summer. Demand for peonies exceeds supply, so Williams hopes to get between $4 and $10 per cut flower.

EagleSong employs six people for its summer operations, but Williams predicts that when export is in full-swing, they’ll need 10 seasonal workers.

While transportation is usually a major barrier to developing agriculture in Alaska, Williams says that Alaska has an advantage in the cut flower industry because cut flowers are typically transported by air.

“That’s perfect for us,” Williams said, “given that we have one of the largest cargo hubs in the world.” Even Williams, who lives off the road system, can get his cut flowers to the Ted Stevens International Airport in about 20 minutes.

The industry has intrigued farmers across the state, but living on a Bush homestead has given Williams unique insights on where the peony industry could go.

“This industry has huge potential in bush Alaska,” Williams said. “There are very few job opportunities there, and this kind of agriculture gives families opportunities and gives locals seasonal employment. It would impact the economy statewide and in the bush.”

It’s apparent that while agriculture’s contribution to the Alaskan economy is small, its potential is great. Demand for local food, value added products and the potential for export is opening the market and giving agriculturalists opportunities to add jobs and revenue to Alaska’s economy.

Rachel Kenley Fry is a Division of Agriculture intern who writes for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman as part of her internship. She is 2009 Palmer High School graduate.