Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
- Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage, feed management, grazing management, manure management, meat processing, meat processing facilities, meat product quality/safety, preventive practices, processing regulations, range improvement, rangeland/pasture management, watering systems
- Crop Production: application rate management, beekeeping, conservation tillage, cover crops, crop improvement and selection, cropping systems, crop rotation, drainage systems, fertigation, fertilizers, foliar feeding, food processing, food processing facilities/community kitchens, food product quality/safety, grafting, greenhouses, high tunnels or hoop houses, irrigation, low tunnels, multiple cropping, no-till, nurseries, nutrient cycling, nutrient management, organic fertilizers, pollination, pollinator habitat, pollinator health, postharvest treatment, row covers (for season extension), season extension, seed saving, tissue analysis, varieties and cultivars, water management, water storage, winter storage
- Education and Training: decision support system, demonstration, display, extension, farmer to farmer, networking, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, technical assistance, workshop, youth education
- Energy: bioenergy and biofuels, biofuel feedstocks, energy conservation/efficiency, renewable energy, solar energy
- Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, agritourism, budgets/cost and returns, business planning, community-supported agriculture, cooperatives, e-commerce, farm-to-institution, farm-to-restaurant, farmers' markets/farm stands, farm succession, financial management, labor/employment, land access, marketing management, new enterprise development, risk management, value added, whole farm planning
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, habitat enhancement, riverbank protection, soil stabilization, wildlife
- Pest Management: biofumigation, biological control, botanical pesticides, chemical control, competition, cultivation, cultural control, disease vectors, economic threshold, eradication, field monitoring/scouting, flame, integrated pest management, mulches - general, mulching - plastic, physical control, prevention, row covers (for pests), sanitation, trap crops, traps, weather monitoring
- Production Systems: dryland farming, holistic management, hydroponics, integrated crop and livestock systems, organic agriculture
- Soil Management: composting, green manures, nutrient mineralization, organic matter, soil analysis, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, soil physics, soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: community development, employment opportunities, food hubs, local and regional food systems, new business opportunities, partnerships, public participation, quality of life, social networks, sustainability measures, urban agriculture
Abstract:
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 / Alaska Agriculture Conference, 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, attendance at the 2023 Food and Farm Festival was 499, and the number of participants at the 2024 Agriculture Conference was 143. 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.
Project objectives:
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 / Alaska Agriculture Conference, 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.