Field Days enable public to learn about projects that improve Alaska’s food security — and help gardeners, too
The UAF Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension will showcase the fruits of its research next week in two events at its experiment farms in Fairbanks and Palmer. Organizers want to show the public what the institute is doing to improve food security.
And they also hope folks will talk about what’s going on in their own gardens.
Institute Director Jodie Anderson says there’ll be a lot to see during the tours and talks at the annual UAF Research Field Days.
“We're really excited, because this is a chance for everybody to come to either of the farms and see what's happening,” Anderson said.
“We want people to be able to talk to our researchers and understand what they’re doing, and also understand how it fits into the bigger picture of strengthening the Alaskan food system.”
She says organizers also hope people will share their experiences, and ask questions that could become the subject of future research projects.
“So maybe we're not going to work on those questions next year,” she said, “but it's certainly information that our researchers use as they plan future research.”
She says the presentations at the Fairbanks and Matanuska Experiment Farms will vary, because the climate and soils are different. So researchers at each facility have developed methods to test the best ways to cultivate crops they’re studying.
“In Palmer, we run potatoes as our cropping system, and in Fairbanks we run grains, and it's because grains do really well in Fairbanks and they don't do really well down here in Palmer.”
Anderson says researchers at the Fairbanks farm are testing different types of broccoli, corn and tomatoes, all of which do better in the warmer and drier summers here. Another researcher, Jakir Hasan will talk about his research into which varieties of barley, wheat and oats grow best in different parts of Alaska.
Dr. Hassan has got hundreds of lines of barley that he's growing out in Delta, here in Palmer and in Fairbanks,” Anderson said, “even though he’s growing the same varieties in all three of those locations.”
At the Palmer farm field day, researcher Jim Vinyard will talk about his efforts to find nutritious, Alaska-harvested ingredients for livestock feed, like seaweed.
“He will be here in Palmer and talking about the work that he's planning to start this fall, which is really exciting work.”
Eight presentations will be given from 2 to 6 p.m. during both field days. The one is Fairbanks will be held at the UAF campus on Tuesday and Palmer’s will be on Thursday at the Matanuska Experiment Farm on South Georgeson Drive.
Admission is free.
