Editorial 10.10, October 2008, by Deirdre Helfferich Stocking Our Larders with the Right Representation “[A]ll through the year we are getting ready, getting ready for fishing, for berry picking, for potlatches, getting ready for winter. We are always getting ready to go somewhere to get foods." Here we are, moving into winter with snow all around us, wood stoves burning to keep us warm, and the prospect of winter sports (such as the Ester Hockey League!) and holidays here at last. Growing or gathering food is no longer very high on the list of Things To Do. Yet, it’s an issue that Alaskans should pay attention to—we have an election coming up. Most of us supplement our store-bought mainstays with moose or caribou, salmon or halibut, blueberries or cranberries, potatoes or cabbage we grew this summer. Subsistence is a work-intensive way to feed oneself; it’s not easy if that’s what you must depend on to live. Fortunately, in most of the state we have supermarkets and feed stores, most of them chains from Outside. Still, the great transportation networks of the world keep most of our food—and that of our pets or our livestock—coming in to Alaska year-round. According to Kim Solien, writer for the Anchorage Daily News blog AK Root Cellar, we spend $2.5 billion annually on food, 98 percent of it shipped in from Outside. We get fruit and vegetables and flowers in January and February—really an amazing thing when you think about it. What’s even more amazing is just how far that food travels. In the Lower 48, the average distance food travels to get to the dinner table from the farm is something on the order of 1,200 miles. In Alaska, of course, that is dramatically higher. In 2005, Ned Rozell wrote an Alaska Science Forum column on this very subject (“Alaska food travels worldly distances,” 12/1/05, ADF#1779), in which he estimated the average mileage of a bag of his typical groceries to be 2,600 miles per item. What this means, of course, is that this well-traveled food is not exactly fresh, and it certainly isn’t food that’s sensitive to bruising. (If you’ve lived here for a few years, you may have experienced the joys of the cardboard tomato.) Most of our available food is processed, transmogrified into insta-mix prepackaged crud. Edible, and sort of tasty, but not truly delicious. It’s a pretty stark contrast to the mouthwatering scrumptiousness of home-grown vegetables or wild-caught game, yet we do it to ourselves every winter. But that’s changing. In the last few years, local farmers markets and community shared agriculture outfits have been springing up all over Alaska. People are becoming aware of the health and taste benefits of eating locally, the harmful environmental and economic consequences of industrial agriculture, the dangers of meat and crop contamination in industrial practices, and, last but not least, the financial costs of fertilizer, shipping, and pesticide use due to the rising cost of petroleum. (The cost of fertilizer for the Ester Community Park soccer field has doubled in the last year, and now makes up two-thirds of the park’s expenses.) It’s a national issue: as observed by Michael Pollan in his recent open letter to the (soon-to-be) president-elect, “After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy—19 percent.” Given all this, you’d think that supporting Alaska agriculture would be high on the list of our representatives’ priorities. After all, food is not something we can do without. Yet, there is no mention whatsoever of agriculture on Rep. Don Young’s website. Nothing. In contrast, Democratic candidate Ethan Berkowitz has demonstrated clearly that he recognizes the importance of Alaska’s food independence: he has a whole section on his website devoted to agriculture issues: storage, infrastructure, agricultural lands protection, support for local farming and food education. In a recent discussion with him, I asked him about the topic, and was delighted to see how animated he became, how enthusiastic he was about the progress at Chena Hot Springs, at the new farmers markets and CSAs. He said to me, “Did you know that there’s only about two or three days’ worth of food in the supermarkets?” What would Alaska do, he went on, if air and road traffic had to be shut down due to a terrorist attack? “Our emergency food is stored in Oregon!” he said indignantly. As Pollan points out, “the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security.” This holds true for each state, perhaps most especially for Alaska. Supporting Alaska agriculture supports our economy, communities, environment, health, and safety. I’m glad to see that at least one candidate for the US House of Representatives recognizes this. AK Root Cellar: http://community.adn.com/adn/blog/69017 “The Food Issue—An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief,” by Michael Pollan, New York Times, October 12, 2008. Available on line at www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html. | ||
 | | |
