Big response to new federal-state grow-your-own program, aimed at Alaska food security

A new federal-state mini-grant program to stimulate small scale local food production has drawn a huge response, causing state officials managing the program to think about making it permanent along with ways of streamlining applications, which are competitive.

The new federal farm act has made $3.6 million available over two years, but a solicitation for proposals that began earlier this year has drawn about 2,500 applications and requests for $45 million or more in funding, according to the preliminary analysis by the state Division of Agriculture.

“This has given us a lot of data,” about how Alaskans feel about food security,” said David Schade, the state agriculture director. “It will take a while to sort it out.”

Proposals run the gamut from expansions of personal and community gardens to larger projects requiring refrigeration and freezer capacity as well as proposals for fencing to raise livestock. The response, which surprised officials in the division, is thought largely due to consumers’ reactions to food and supply shortages in 2020 due to the pandemic and its effects on supply chains.

Rural residents, particularly effected by 2020 supply disruptions, were prominent in applications, with the exception of northern regions for reasons not yet understood. Schade said.

The 2020 pandemic focused the attention of many Alaskans to the state’s vulnerability at the end a long supply line from the U.S. west coast.

That prompted a desire to buy more food grown locally, which made local Farmer’ Markets popular last summer. Community gardens became popular, too.

The funds comes from a special program included in the farm bill for Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific island territories. This was a recognition for these regions’ disconnect from the mainland U.S. and the logistics challenges of long supply lines for commodity and food, Schade said.

Many federal farm programs are designed for the contiguous Lower 48 states where there is infrastructure and good surface transportation.

The new program is intended to enhance a community’s ability to produce, store and distribute food. A wide variety of projects can be funded, ranging from greenhouses, local cold storage and processing facilities.

Food storage for community nonprofit food banks is one area where a particular need has been identified.

“We see a real need for freezing and refrigeration in communities outside Anchorage,” Schade said.

The Salvation Army in Palmer, one nonprofit engaged in food assistance, was stressed in 2020 by shortages of storage and frozen food space, he said.

There will be an emphasis on building a storage and distribution out to “hubs” in rural communities to reduce the current dependence on facilities in major population centers, which now makes the system vulnerable to disruption.

What’s also important is that projects can be aggregated among several individuals and organizations in communities. For example, several members of a family engaged in farming can apply for $5,000 grants for up to three years, which will multiply the dollars available, Schade said.

Likewise, several organizations in a community can apply for separate $10,000 grants for up to three years to jointly fund a larger project. A 10 percent local match is required but this may be waived for individual grants under certain circumstances, according to information on the division’s web site.

The grant money can be used for gardening tools or equipment, refrigeration, purchase and assembly of composting units and towers to grow leafy greens.