Governor’s new agriculture department spurs optimism in farm communities but many remember sharp 2019 cuts to state’s farm support

Alaska is one of the few U.S. states without a Department of Agriculture. That will change in 2025. Gov. Mike Dunleavy will introduce an executive order in January to establish the new department on January, he said.

Agriculture issues are currently handled by the Department of Natural Resources, through the Division of Agriculture. The governor and many in the state feel having a full-blown department in the executive branch will help focus attention on the needs of farmers.

The proposal, “elevates state agricultural policy to a cabinet-level position, ensuring agricultural sector remains a priority for the State under future administrations and Legislatures,” said Lorraine Henry, spokesperson for the DNR. “This focus will help develop a robust, durable State of Alaska agricultural policy, including a strategic plan with an implementation roadmap,” she said.

The idea is also one of several put forth last year by a state food security task force chaired by Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Mat-Su.

Alaska currently imports about 95 percent of its food products, and the pandemic signaled that Alaska needs to take its food security seriously, the governor said in a statement.

“The COVID pandemic was a wakeup call. It revealed how much Alaska had become dependent on functioning supply chains and how quickly a disruption at West Coast ports could wreak havoc in Alaska,” the governor said in a statement.

“The Department of Agriculture’s mission will be to provide expert support for new and established farmers and ranchers and administer programs that improve Alaska’s food security. This will also grow the state’s economy with new jobs and commercial activity,” he said. It also means Alaska will have a Commissioner of Agriculture who can advocate for farmers in cabinet meetings in the governor’s office and the Legislature.

“Creating a Department of Agriculture has been a long-standing priority of the Alaska Farm Bureau. Agriculture was a key industry here in territorial and early statehood days, with support, we can get back to that. It could bring key opportunities for building a robust agriculture industry in our state,” said Scott Mugrage, President Alaska Farm Bureau.

Officials in the state natural resources department have always supported its agriculture division and farmers in the state, but many feel farm issues sometimes get shoved to a lower priority level in the DNR, which also deals with oil and gas, minerals and the administration of state lands.

Many in the farm community feel DNR’s top managers focus understandably on where the money is. Alaskan agriculture generated about than $90 million in sales in 2022, which is minor compared with several billion dollars in spending by the oil and gas industry.

There are also skeptics who wonder whether Dunleavy will provide effective budget support. The governor slashed the Division of Agriculture budget in 2019 among major cuts to other agencies. Twenty employees were cut in the agriculture division, leaving a staff of 16.

The state revolving farm loan program was reduced along with marketing and food inspection programs. A program to encourage major Alaska grocery chains to carry more Alaska-grown products was dropped.

Some reductions were restored in the following years and Dunleavy is given credit for launching one significant new farm initiative in a new agriculture project near Nenana, in Interior Alaska. Still, memories linger on those sharp 2019 reductions.

While there’s wide support for expanded farming to reinforce the local economies in communities near where crops are grown, like Delta, Nenana and Palmer, many question how realistic it is to achieve “food security” in large communities like Anchorage and Fairbanks that are served by efficient surface transportation from the Lower 48 states where food can be grown at less cost.

An example is how competition from large dairy farms in the Pacific Northwest combined with fast roll-on, roll-off container ships decimated Alaska dairy farms that supplied local markets. During the pandemic the most acute supply-chain problems developed around non-food commodities like toilet paper.

Of the $90 million in Alaska economic activity from farming, aquaculture like shellfish growing and, more recently, kelp, led the way with more than $43 million, about half of the total. This was followed by nursery and greenhouses with more than $21 million in sales, according to federal data. Livestock sales contributed another $3.6 million, and grain production had almost $1 million.

It's an infant industry, but the number of Alaska farms is increasing. In 1992, the state had 512 farms. By 2022 the number was 1,173. The fastest-growing segment of the small industry is aquaculture, rather than traditional farms.

Dunleavy will introduce his executive order in January. Unless countermanded by the Legislature, which is unlikely, the new department will be official on July 1. There will be an added expense, which the governor will have to introduce as a part of his amended budget for upcoming Fiscal Year 2026, which begins July 1.