Farmers future rests with new board

PALMER The new Board of Agriculture and Conservation (BAC) is now a reality, and will immediately be faced with making a decision that will affect Mat-Su farmers for years to come.

Gov. Tony Knowles signed House Bill 116 into law last month, and the new law which created the board took effect July 1. Division of Agriculture director Rob Wells said the governor hopes to have all seven members of the board appointed by sometime in August.

One of the boards first responsibilities will be to oversee the disposal of Mt. McKinley Meat & Sausage, a Palmer slaughterhouse which is an Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund asset.

The plant is operated by the Alaska Department of Corrections and was built with grant funds to provide services to farmers in Alaska. The corrections department uses the facility for rehabilitating inmates, training them to be certified meat cutters.

One of the first decisions Wells and the fledgling ag board will have to make is to determine the best direction for Palmers meat and sausage plant.

The government says we need that type of facility to slaughter animals … so if they furnish the facility, thats fine, Bob Thorn, president of the Mat-Su Valley Farm Bureau, said. Losing that facility is a major concern that we are looking at.

Thorn worries that with an appraisal of $750,000 an amount which is a little more than half of the plants replacement value an unsympathetic buyer could come in and shut down the plants slaughter facility, leaving Alaskas farmers, especially dairy farmers, without a place to sell their culled (non-producing) dairy cows.

Thorn said he would hate to see Anchorage meat distributors calling on Valley farmers to cull out their animals for them.

We try to stress that we need (the facility) for public-health reasons, he said.

There is a market for Alaska-grown meat, he said. The schools, prisons and senior citizen homes are, for the most part, bound by contract to serve food products brought in from Outside.

They bid bananas with potatoes, he said. Its a crime against our senior citizens that they cannot eat local (food products).

Incorporated into the Mt. McKinley sale request for proposal is a provision that requires a buyer to keep the kill floor open for three years.

Valley farmers question the states authority to force a cash buyer to keep open a part of the business that loses money.

Barbara Hamilton of Hamiltons Dairy Farm in Palmer said dairy farmers are not in that kind of business because it is lucrative.

Youre there because you like the lifestyle, she said. Closing the kill floor would put us in a world of hurt. That is our sole source for getting rid of culled animals . . . there are no options. Why would somebody in private business want to come along and take over a (failing) business?

Palmer farm equipment salesman Earl Claybo said it would be tragic if the state quickly sold the meat-processing facility to someone lacking the financial resources to operate it successfully. He said the agricultural industry thrives under slow, steady transitions without much state intervention.

The ag industry is healthier than its been for a long time, Claybo said. Theres going to be real farmers on this board. I think this board will be a positive thing.

He said the facility is a link to the farming industry.

When you break the link, you break the industry, he said. We have to constantly fend off people (from Outside) that dont have the interests of Alaskan people at heart. Its best, for now, to leave it alone.

Point MacKenzie dairy farmer Harvey Baskin is paying close attention to the plant proceedings. He said he takes about 35 animals a year to be butchered there and worries that a private owner will only take animals when they want to, only at the price they want.

He said he wants the state to closely monitor the sale of the facility because it historically has proven to be a money-losing venture.

Over the past five years, the plant has shown a loss of $359,511, according to a profit-loss statement released by Howard & Wing Commercial Real Estate Appraisers, an Anchorage-based company which assessed the plants value.

It would be hard for a buyer without sufficient resources to operate the plant competitively, Baskin said.

The state should monitor (the sale) closely, he said.