Green(back) acres

May 8, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Much of the best farm fields in Alaska are located around Palmer. The soil is deeper and richer than just about anywhere else in the state and grows enough vegetables and potatoes to fill grocery stores and farmers' markets throughout Southcentral.

Those fields, however, are disappearing fast. This summer, hundreds of houses will sprout up in former vegetable fields and potato patches. Construction workers will be replaced by farmhands, and the landscape will continue its transformation from green vegetable rows to bustling neighborhoods.

The tide is strong and building momentum. Fields around Palmer now sell for $15,000 an acre, and the Mat-Su Borough estimates that nearly 1,800 new residential constructions will go up in 2005. Many of those will go on prime farmland.

The reasons are varied. It's becoming increasingly difficult for many farmers to compete with outside prices from massive agro-farms. Other longtime farmers are reaching retirement age, and their children have no desire to toil in the fields.

These trends do not bode well for the preservation of a local food source. In many cases, young farmers looking for land can't even begin to offer fair market value for a chunk of prime farmland.

The farm front, however, is not all doom and gloom. A growing number of people cultivate smaller fields and sell produce at local farmers' markets and vegetable stands. Precious few have grown their family farms with the times and still manage to sell produce to local grocery stores at competitive prices.

Traditional farmers, however - those who make most of their income from farming - often can't afford modern farming machinery, higher labor costs and increasingly larger fields. These farmers are folding fast, and it's a trend that caught the attention of the U.S. government.

Three years ago, the federal government approved the 2002 Farm Bill to assist local governments and nonprofits in their efforts to preserve grass, farm and ranch lands. The bill includes two programs, the Grassland Reserve Program, and the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.

The two projects allow farmers to voluntarily enter a number of different agreements to protect their land from the economic pressures that often force them to sell property to residential or commercial developers.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Resources Conservation Service receives roughly $1.2 million for the grasslands program. Those funds allow NRCS to sign on to 10- to 30-year rental agreements with landowners.

Other options include purchasing agricultural easements that last either 30 years or permanently.

Since 2003, NRCS has approved eight grassland rental agreements in the Mat-Su. Those agreements have protected thousands of acres of Mat-Su grassland, including 1,000 acres in 2005 alone.

The other program that aims to protect farm and ranch land also receives about $1.2 million in federal aid each year, but it hasn't been nearly as successful as the grasslands project. Difficulties stem from the fact that the farm and ranch land funds are contingent on matching funds from local city, borough or private entities. Unless a qualified agency provides matching funds, the federal aid must be returned.

Over the last two years, NRCS has returned approximately $2.4 million that could have been used to purchase agricultural easements.

To date, no qualified agencies exist to provide matching funds, and Steve Gallagher is trying to change that.

Gallagher is the manager of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp. He is working toward establishing the Alaska Farmland Trust Corporation, a nonprofit entity that could accept donations and apply them toward federal matching funds. Gallagher said he hopes to have the land trust viable for fiscal year 2006.

He admitted, however, that time is of the essence, and each year NRCS is forced to return federal funds, more farmland is lost.

Larry DeVilbiss, the director of the state's Division of Agriculture, said the loss is a disturbing trend.

"This is something we should be concerned about as long-term planners in our community," he said. "I like to see a few open fields. When we use up all our open spaces for houses, it's a trend that devalues our lives."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.