Agriculture
RSSAgriculture in Alaska is farming, food production, and the land and policy systems that support it. It covers Matanuska Valley farms, greenhouse and peony growing, reindeer and musk ox herding, and food security. It also takes in agricultural land leasing, farm tax breaks, and fish farming.
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Alaska's state farmland auction draws 55 bids on 19 parcels
Alaska's state farmland auction drew $1,165,016 in high bids for 17 parcels near Nenana and Anchor Point, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.
The land is sold to be farmed. Buyers have to clear and work it before the state hands over title.
The state offered 19 parcels and got 55 bids. Ten bidders came out on top for 17 of them, covering 861 acres.
Each buyer needs a farm conservation plan approved by March 25, 2027. Within five years of signing a sale contract, half of the parcel's cropland soils must be in farmable condition, according to the auction brochure.
Ten of the 19 parcels, from about 22 to 125 acres, are in the Nenana-Totchaket Agricultural Project, 8 to 10.5 miles west of the Parks Highway. The area was planned for farming decades ago, but access held it back until a bridge over the Nenana River was finished in 2020, the brochure says.
Buyers out there will plow their own roads. Totchaket Road is maintained for only its first 6 miles west of the highway, under a city-state agreement that runs through October 2028. Every other road in the project is unmaintained, including Kohlrabi Court, the way into two of the parcels.
The other nine parcels, 20 to 45 acres each, are in the North Fork Micro Ag Subdivision, about 10 miles east of Anchor Point. Land there costs more. Minimum bids worked out to about $1,700 to $2,700 an acre, compared with about $360 to $1,000 near Nenana. Five North Fork parcels have no electric service and can only be reached with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
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Board of Agriculture and Conservation Meeting
Division of Agriculture state office, 1801 S. Margaret Dr., Suite 12, Palmer, AK 99645, and Microsoft Teams (Meeting ID 250 954 725 456 00, passcode Ba6J5Co2) or phone +1 907-202-7104, conference ID 739 540 346#
Meeting
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Agriculture Advisory Board Regular Meeting
Meeting
Over-the-Counter Land Sales Begin - Auction #498 and #499 Unsold Parcels
Public notice
ADL 234834 Public Comment Deadline – PoleStar, LLC dba Barrowcliff Family Farms Land Lease
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About Agriculture
Agriculture in Alaska takes in farming, ranching and food production, from hay and vegetable fields to peony growing, livestock, beekeeping and fish farming. Much of it is centered in the Matanuska Valley around Palmer, Wasilla and Point MacKenzie, with other state farm parcels near Nenana and Anchor Point and greenhouse projects in remote villages.
The state shapes the industry through its own farmland, which it sells and leases on agricultural terms, and through property tax breaks for farm use. Recurring questions include what lease rates farmers should pay, which crops and animals qualify for tax relief, and how land can be kept in production. Federal programs add grants for processors and growers and disaster payments for losses to predators.
Food security runs through the subject, because Alaska imports most of what it eats and has little capacity to process its own meat. Efforts to grow, process and fertilize locally connect farming to energy and land use, as with the idle fertilizer plant at Nikiski that depends on Cook Inlet gas. Growers also compete at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, known for its giant vegetables.