Point Mac partnership produces

POINT MACKENZIE — About 30 miles southwest of downtown Wasilla, dozens of individuals are producing food for dozens of partnering agencies around the state.

At the 600-acre Point Mackenzie Correctional Farm on Friday, April 1, the Food Bank of Alaska picked up thousands of pounds of potatoes to serve Alaskans with limited resources.

“People in need are just like everybody else, they like fresh produce,” said Food Bank of Alaska executive director Mike Miller.

Goose Creek Correctional Center Superintendent II John Conant said most of the food produced at the farm feeds inmates locally and statewide, but with decreased staffing due to an ever-low budget, increased production due to a few good growing years and limited storage space, they’ve had some to spare.

“They had food they didn’t want to waste so we said, ‘Let’s feed some hungry people,’” Miller said.

Miller said the Food Bank’s partnership with the farm is going on eight years now, having received 335,813 pounds of fresh food from the Point Mac facility in the last six years.

Though donations from the farm make up seven percent of all produce received by the food bank — the largest percentage donated from any one source, Miller said — individual farmers, commercial suppliers and retail outlets like Fred Meyer and Walmart also contribute to the cause.

Miller estimated there are 47,000 people in need of food and/or housing between Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley. With 19 partner agencies in the Mat-Su alone, it’s clear that the donated food makes it beyond the bank’s Anchorage headquarters.

“Even if it’s donated in Anchorage, a lot of it will likely find its way to the Valley,” Miller said.

Re-entry opportunities

While the Point Mac farm feeds hundreds of thousands of people around the state with millions of pounds of potatoes, broccoli, bok choy, apples, raspberries, carrots, cauliflower, beef, pork, eggs and more each year, it also provides work opportunities for the 40 or so inmates who spend 12-16 hours a day managing the fields, greenhouses and livestock.

Conant said the requirements for a prisoner to work on the farm include good behavior, a clean bill of health and no one convicted of arson or sex crimes is eligible.

Since the farm has much less security than the prison — just a three-foot tall wooden post fence runs the perimeter of the place — farmers also have to show up for a count every couple of hours on the farm for correctional center staff to keep track of everyone.

Most inmates are nearing the end of their sentences when they become farmers, Conant said, but usually have at least a few months for farm technician Adam Boyd to get to know them and their abilities.

“It’s just about getting the right people in the right places,” Boyd said.

A private contractor for the Department of Corrections, Boyd also owns Mat-Valley Potato Growers in Palmer. He said he has on more than one occasion hired some of the inmates upon their release.

“Sometimes they wanna get out of a lifelong pattern of bad behavior and if I see the things I’m looking for (here) I say OK, I’ll give you a shot,” he said.

It’s a policy that’s served him well.

“I swear I have a nose for integrity,” he said.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.