From studying ways to improve soil in Gustavus to investigating whether Alaska potatoes can be ready in time for tourist season, five agricultural projects are receiving funding from the 2024 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

The state’s Division of Agriculture announced recently it is awarding more than $254,000 on behalf of the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The grants will fund projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crop products and create new market opportunities for the state’s specialty crop producers.

Cooking Classes to Potato Production

The block grants will be distributed to five projects. First among them is the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District, which was awarded funding to assist Interior Alaska specialty crop farmers in planning and implementing two Interior Alaska Farm Forums to be held in February 2025 and 2027 to share practices solving the unique challenges of farming in that region, as well as familiarizing themselves with the agencies and advocates who serve them.

In Kenai, the Bridges Community Resource Network, more commonly known as the Kenai Local Food Connection, will partner with the Soldotna Wednesday Market, the Goods Sustainable Grocery, local libraries, schools, college, and local producers to hold seasonal classes and chef demonstrations with locally grown specialty crops to increase education and consumption of Alaska Specialty Crops.

Stellar Botanical Health will partner with the Alaska Plant Materials Center on potato research to identify varieties of scab, a type of crop disease, found in Gustavus soils. The project will include scab identification and mitigation to improve soil conditions and overall potato production in Gustavus and surrounding communities.

The Alaska Division of Agriculture’s Alaska Grown program will receive funding to host a pavilion at the Alaska State Fair in 2025, 2026, and 2027 as well as booths at two additional fairs throughout the year. The pavilion and the booths will support specialty crop producers by increasing consumer awareness, establishing new customer bases, and reaching new markets.

Finally, the Alaska Plant Materials Center will perform field and storage extension studies to evaluate the possibilities of making Alaska Grown potatoes available between July and October—peak tourist season—so Alaska potatoes can be marketed at farmer’s markets, food trucks and processing during the period of July to October, when local potatoes are generally still in the field. Results will be relayed to potato growers by presentation and publication.

“We are happy to once again be partnered with Alaska on the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program,” says USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The innovative projects funded through this program will strengthen US specialty crop production and markets and ensure Americans have sustained access to fresh, locally grown fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops and support the region’s specialty crop growers to help ensure their long-term success.”

The Alaska funding is part of a total of $72.9 million in non-competitive Specialty Crop Block Grant funding awarded to fifty-four states, territories, and the District of Columbia this federal fiscal year. The grants support farmers growing crops including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery crops to strengthen US specialty crop production and markets, ensuring an abundant and affordable supply of highly nutritious specialty crops which are vital to the health and well-being of all Americans.

Source - https://www.akbizmag.com