Mat Maid milk dries up, but industry doesn’t have to

A 71-year Alaska tradition ends this week as the last of the Matanuska Maid Dairy products hits store shelves.

The cooperative started milk production in 1936, and in its first year reported sales of 6,458 pounds of butter and 26,928 eggs. By 1940, there was enough surplus milk to begin bottling and selling it, generating sales of nearly $500,000. Ice cream production followed closely on the heels of the milk sales, eventually evolving into the full dairy line Alaskans have grown to love.

Despite the hard work and endless hours the state Board of Agriculture and Conservation spent poring through paperwork and financial statements to find a way to make Matanuska Maid solvent, it just wasn’t enough to stop the state-owned company from shutting down.

With the new Southcentral Dairy Venture not yet ready to accept milk, local dairy farmers are worried, and rightfully so.

Northern Lights Dairy in Delta Junction has stepped forward to provide the dairy farmers an outlet to sell their milk, sending its own trucks around to Valley farms to make the milk pickup. While this will help alleviate some of the financial burden local dairy farmers are facing with Mat Maid’s closure, it will not pay the bills.

The state Creamery Board voted unanimously on Friday to request $200,000 from the Alaska Legislature in an effort to help the local farmers through the coming months until the Southcentral Dairy Venture is ready to purchase their milk. We think this is a reasonable request, especially given that Legislators approved giving $600,000 to the struggling dairy in the last legislative session in an effort to save Mat Maid.

In the end, Mat Maid couldn’t be saved, but the state’s dairy industry can. We believe investing $200,000 to bridge the gap between Mat Maid’s closure and the opening of Southcentral Dairy Venture is the right thing to do.

The Mat-Su Valley’s roots run deep in agriculture. With the unprecedented growth the Valley has seen in the last decade, we run the risk of losing the farmland and the farming tradition that built our community. If we lose the dairy farmers, other areas of Alaska agriculture – grain and hay farmers, Mt. McKinley Meats and 4-H projects — could be lost, too.

We hope the Legislature approves the funding request quickly and urge the community and state to support the new Southcentral Dairy Venture, which will be processing milk and/or cheeses under the familiar Mat Maid logo once it opens for business. Doing so will help sustain our local economy and preserve an important piece of Valley history.