Alaska produce gets new box, business

MAT-SU -- Fresh Alaska produce began arriving in grocery stores, restaurants and markets last week with a new look. Made possible by grants from the Division of Agriculture and the Mat-Su Farm Bureau, growers can now deliver their produce in vegetable boxes featuring the Alaska Grown logo, and, if requested, the grower's name and address.

"I do my entire booth in these boxes," said Ray Hodge, a farmer and the driving force behind the new boxes. "It's the best looking booth out there."

A few years ago, Hodge started researching the potential for Alaska produce to compete with produce from Outside. After a number of market surveys, he realized one thing was holding local farmers back more than anything else: adequate packaging.

"[Farmers] were reusing boxes, they were mislabeled and inappropriate for the produce," Hodge said. "We needed an industry standard."

Hodge said both restaurants and stores have shown interest in purchasing local vegetables, but have had issues with the boxes used. Most restaurants only have a certain amount of space for vegetable boxes, and if a box of lettuce comes in an old banana box, the packaging takes up too much room. The new Alaska Grown boxes are made specifically for each vegetable, and are reusable and practical.

"This project has been a tremendous success," Hodge said. So far, the grants -- which total around $15,000 in the last two years -- and the money put forward by the farmers themselves -- $8,000 so far with another $8,000 expected -- have produced three types of boxes: Lettuce, zucchini and broccoli. Most of the boxes were pre-sold, approximately 10,000 of them, Hodge estimated, and the few left over are selling quick. The current batch of boxes has about 100 left.

The four-color boxes allow Alaska growers to meet new organic standards, which require foods to be distributed in new packaging to avoid contaminates from used boxes. The next phase of the project, which happens in about two weeks, includes printing waxed carrot boxes and dry potato boxes. Hodge hopes to have Alaska Grown egg cartons once the project takes off.

"We're going to work on some other boxes," he said. "Tomato, herb, green onion boxes … We want to print lettuce twist-ties for the stores to use."

Hodge has the boxes available for sale at his farm and at Budget Feeds. Although he is in charge of the boxes, Hodge said it is still a nonprofit endeavor -- the purpose of his involvement is to make Alaska produce marketable, not to make a quick buck.

"I'm satisfied," Hodge said. "We've got snappy-looking products, now it's time to get the word out."