Alaskan farmers are being offered financial assistance by the state to help them pay high prices for feed that is in short supply due to last year’s poor harvest. Some farmers believe that establishing a grain reserve is a better way to help them recover from lean years.
Two new programs were launched by the state to assist farmers in paying for feed. Prices are almost double what they were last year because of last winter’s heavy snowfall, and low fall harvest crop yields due to early frosts.
Phil Kaspari, a local UAF Cooperative Extension Service agent says that “it was difficult.” “We had high input costs and poor returns. Many people are now in survival mode.”
Kaspari stated Monday in an interview that higher feed, fuel, and fertilizer prices have caused some producers to reduce their livestock herds.
He said that the last thing we wanted to see was people having to cut down their herds. But in reality, that’s what many of these people have had too.
Scott Mugrage, President of Alaska Farm Bureau, says that many Alaska farmers are affected by the problem.
He said, “It’s more than people paying high feed costs.” “We’re going out of grain in Alaska.”
Mugrage raises hay and other feed on his Delta Junction farm. He says that producers are grateful for the state’s Food Security Cost Assistance Program. According to a spokesperson for the state Agriculture Division, 70 farmers applied for payments from the program. The requests ranged from $1000 to almost $150,000.
Mugrage stated, however, that he was not certain that this kind of assistance was necessary to get us through.
He said that another program, the Alaska Barley Transportation Support Grant Program, was announced by the state last Wednesday. This grant is likely to be more helpful, even though the window for applying for grants closed Monday.
He said, “I thought they’d do better with offsetting some transport costs with imported feeds because that’s all we don’t own.” “We don’t have grains.”
Mugrage said he was disappointed the state failed to act on what he and others believed was the best way to protect livestock producers in lean years, namely reviving plans for establishing a grain reserve.
He said, “This is precisely the year that proves that we need to establish this reserve.” It’s like a savings fund. It’s there all the time, you can release it during times of drought or catastrophe, and then it could be back re-apportioned following the drought. ”
Mike Schultz, another Delta farmer, agrees.
He said Monday that it was a good idea for many reasons. “One is that over several years, the grain reserve would build up and become the cushion we need in case of another poor production season.”
Mike Schultz grows barley and other crops in the 6,000-acre farm he shares with Scott. The Delta-based Alaska Farmers Co-op is also his board chair. It was established in 1980 and built grain elevators as well as a fertilizer plant using state funds. In 1993, the organization was in financial trouble and declared bankruptcy. The state then deeded these assets to it. In 2015, the state purchased the assets and leased them back to the cooperative for 25 years at a rate of one dollar per year. Schultz believes it would make a great location to establish a grain reserve.
He said that it would be a great benefit to the state’s livestock producers because they would know there was enough feed for their animals.
Both Kaspari and Mugrage agree. They hoped that the state would set up a grain reserve, as Gov. Mike Dunleavy spoke about it at Nenana’s annual Agriculture Day event in June. A spokesperson for the Agriculture Division said that while state officials were still looking into a grain reserve, they decided to continue with other programs to help farmers this year.
