Progress report for WAK22-001
Project Information
Our project is focused on improving agriculture in Alaska by providing education and resources to farmers and agricultural professionals across the state. With only a handful agriculture cooperative extension service agents available to reach all of the communities in Alaska, partnerships and collaborations with other agencies and agricultural groups are essential for disseminating information effectively.
The project's primary deliverables include hosting the Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show / Alaska Food and Farm Festival, providing workshops focused on sustainable agriculture, offering webinars and newsletters focused on sustainable agriculture, and hosting and providing access online to conference/workshop presentations and recorded webinars. Attendance at the 2022 Convention included over 230 participants, and attendance at the 2023 Food and Farm Festival was 499. These efforts provide much-needed information and support to farmers and agricultural professionals, helping to improve agriculture in Alaska and potentially increase the utilization of the 15 million acres of soil designated as suitable for farming.
Attending the annual WSARE PDP meetings is also a valuable opportunity for the WSARE state coordinator to network and collaborate with other professionals working on sustainable agriculture projects. This can help to identify best practices and innovative approaches to improving agriculture in Alaska, further supporting the success of this project and the agricultural community in the state.
The Alaska SARE PDP project objectives focused on increasing knowledge and emphasis on sustainable agriculture practices among agricultural professionals, facilitating the transmission of this knowledge to producers, and promoting the adoption of sustainable practices by producers. By offering the Annual Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show / Alaska Food and Farm Festival, as well as newsletters and webinars throughout the award period, the project provided valuable information and resources to agricultural professionals and producers across the state. These events and resources help to increase awareness and understanding of sustainable agriculture practices, and provide achievable goals that could be adapted and implemented in Alaska. The emphasis on sustainable agriculture practices in educational programs and publications also helps to promote the adoption of these practices among producers. By facilitating the transmission of knowledge from agricultural professionals to producers and assisting them in developing the skills necessary to make these practices successful, the project helped to support the growth of sustainable agriculture in Alaska.
The Alaska SARE PDP project aims to address the challenges faced by the state in disseminating timely and research-based agricultural information to communities spread across an area one-fifth the size of the United States. With a limited number of cooperative extension service agents available, the project recognizes the importance of partnerships, collaborations, and cooperation with other agencies and agricultural groups. To achieve this goal, the project uses resources to cosponsor agricultural conferences, trainings, and workshops, provide travel for extension agents to attend training programs, and bring guest speakers from within Alaska and other parts of the United States to provide new knowledge, research, and ideas to residents. The project makes possible the Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show / Alaska Food and Farm Festival, which brings together diverse communities and villages from across the state to discuss and learn about sustainable agriculture practices.
In addition to conferences and workshops, the project also provides for the maintenance of an Alaska SARE listserv (approximately 1,400 Alaskans), printed materials, Zoom meeting platform, and Alaska webinar/newsletter. These resources are critical for connecting hundreds of Alaskans with innovations and information regarding sustainable agriculture practices, and they provide a platform for sharing updates on farming operations, research, and projects taking place throughout the state and beyond.
Finally, the project also supports the WSARE state coordinator to travel to the annual WSARE PDP summer meetings. This will provide an opportunity for the coordinator to network and collaborate with other professionals working on sustainable agriculture projects, and to identify best practices and innovative approaches to improving agriculture in Alaska. Overall, the project aims to foster partnerships, collaboration, and cooperation to promote sustainable agriculture practices and improve access to agricultural information across the state.
Advisors
Education
The topics and contents areas that were highlighted at the 2022 and 2023 3-day events included a total of 170 presentations and 7 workshops ranging across many agricultural topics: 1) food systems and food security, 2) agricultural lending opportunities, 3) rhodiola production and research, 4) floriculture, 5) integrated pest management and biosecurity, 6) risk management, 7) farm and land opportunities in Alaska, 8) partnerships, social media, marketing, and business 9) youth development, 10) identity and well-being within Alaska food production, 11) Alaska vegetable variety trials, 12) livestock production, 13) transportation, 14) irrigation and fertigation, 15) soil research and potato pathogen research, 16) farmers markets, 17) grant opportunities, 18) value-added, 19) pesticide safety, 20) hay and pasture production during drought, 21) high tunnels, 22) the Alaska apple tree pollinator survey 23) beekeeping, 24) ag lending, and 25) farmer suicide prevention training. These topics were established based on requests from participants at recent events and advisory committee recommendations.
Resources used in the project include the time/labor of personnel from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Extension (IANRE). The commitment from the Alaska SARE Coordinator will be 120 hours per year. IANRE provides infrastructural support in the form of copiers, computers, LCD projectors, and offices for meetings. Educational programs are conducted in conjunction with other programs. There are many advantages to this coordination of activities, including the leveraging of resources devoted to these programs, which will help support the SARE message. The Alaska Farm Bureau, Alaska Division of Agriculture, Soil and Water Conservation District Boards and several agricultural companies help sponsor programs and contribute to the cost of mailings, printing brochures, speaker travel, and other expenses.
Over the last two events, there were 729 attendees with representation from over 30 communities from across the state, with representation from several different lower-48 states. Attendees traveled from all over the state of Alaska, many of them being state and federal agency employees, farmers, ranchers, restaurant owners, food enthusiasts, students, and interested community members. Several workshops were provided, with 68 vendors/exhibitors present over the last two years.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Host the Second Annual Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show.
Provide a 3-day state Farm Convention and Trade Show.
Participants will gain or increase knowledge, skills, awareness about sustainable ag topics, systems, principles, technologies, practices and resources.
Participants will gain or increase motivations and skills to effectively educate farmers and ranchers about sustainable agriculture.
Participants use information learned to conduct educational programs about sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, practices, technologies, and resources.
Participants use information learned to incorporate information into products and educational tools.
Participants use information learned to share project materials and/or SARE and other sustainable ag resources with farmers and others.
Participants use information learned to develop and/or strengthen professional collaborations and involvement in teaching, research and demonstration of sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, and practices.
Participants adopt sustainable systems, approaches and practices.
Provide workshops focused on sustainable agriculture.
We will provide workshops focused on sustainable agriculture as stand alone events or in coordination with the Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show.
Participants will gain or increase knowledge, skills, awareness about sustainable ag topics, systems, principles, technologies, practices and resources.
Participants will gain or increase motivations and skills to effectively educate farmers and ranchers about sustainable agriculture.
Participants use information learned to conduct educational programs about sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, practices, technologies, and resources.
Participants use information learned to incorporate information into products and educational tools.
Participants use information learned to share project materials and/or SARE and other sustainable ag resources with farmers and others.
Participants use information learned to develop and/or strengthen professional collaborations and involvement in teaching, research and demonstration of sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, and practices.
Participants adopt sustainable systems, approaches and practices.
Provide webinars/newsletter focused on sustainable agriculture.
Will provide webinars/newsletter focused on sustainable agriculture.
Participants will gain or increase knowledge, skills, awareness about sustainable ag topics, systems, principles, technologies, practices and resources.
Participants will gain or increase motivations and skills to effectively educate farmers and ranchers about sustainable agriculture.
Participants use information learned to conduct educational programs about sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, practices, technologies, and resources.
Participants use information learned to incorporate information into products and educational tools.
Participants use information learned to share project materials and/or SARE and other sustainable ag resources with farmers and others.
Participants use information learned to develop and/or strengthen professional collaborations and involvement in teaching, research and demonstration of sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, and practices.
Participants adopt sustainable systems, approaches and practices.
Host and provide access online to conference/workshop presentations and recorded webinars.
Will host and provide access online to conference/workshop presentations and recorded webinars.
Participants will gain or increase knowledge, skills, awareness about sustainable ag topics, systems, principles, technologies, practices and resources.
Participants will gain or increase motivations and skills to effectively educate farmers and ranchers about sustainable agriculture.
Participants use information learned to conduct educational programs about sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, practices, technologies, and resources.
Participants use information learned to incorporate information into products and educational tools.
Participants use information learned to share project materials and/or SARE and other sustainable ag resources with farmers and others.
Participants use information learned to develop and/or strengthen professional collaborations and involvement in teaching, research and demonstration of sustainable agriculture topics, systems, principles, and practices.
Participants adopt sustainable systems, approaches and practices.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
On November 11-13 of 2022, we held the second Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show (AFCTS) at the Egan Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska. This was the largest agriculture event of its kind to date in Alaska. The AFCTS was a large well organized event that partnered with the Alaska Farm Bureau and was timed concurrently and adjoined the Annual Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting. Alaska Western SARE was a major partner of the event.
Over 230 participants attended the in-person and virtual technical sessions and workshops. The event consisted of opening ceremonies with four tracks of technical sessions, activities, workshops all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday including 20 trade show vendor booths. The event was an even bigger success than the first convention and trade show that was offered in 2021. The success of this second event spurred the Alaska Farm Bureau and the Alaska Western SARE program to combine events with Alaska Food Policy Council for the first ever Alaska Food and Farm Festival which was offered in Anchorage November 10-12, 2023. This new partnership increased the number of participants to 499 for our annual event. Information about the event can be found here: https://www.akfoodpolicycouncil.org/2023-festival-conference
Christine Macknicki with the Alaska Plant Materials Center presents information on the Alaska Potato Program and how to Control Potato Scab at the Second Annual Alaska Farm Convention and Trade Show.
Face of SARE
Outreach is coordinated through our University Website as well as Cooperative Extension Service Offices and Statewide Agency Offices. We also release information through our list serves, websites, and social media pages across state agency and University offices.