Agriculture

A project combining solar energy and food production is scheduled to launch next year. University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers will test the concept during Alaska’s short but intense summer.

The state Department of Transportation will hold a community meeting in Nenana tonight to hear concerns that members of the community and local tribe have raised about the state’s plans to develop a big agricultural area west of town.

Alaska’s longest and most popular hunting season ended early this year. The Delta Junction bison hunt usually extends from October to March, but the state limited this year’s season to just two weeks, and only 50 animals were taken, because last winter’s heavy snow and ice buildup wiped out nearly a third of the Delta bison herd.

Unusual weather has cut Alaska’s hay harvest in half and sent the price of feed soaring, making it difficult for both farmers livestock producers who already were struggling with high fuel and fertilizer prices. State and federal experts are advising Alaska farmers to expect continued unusual weather and they’ve scheduled workshops next month to help farmers plan for the new normal.

The state is calling its first sale of potential farmland west of Nenana a success. The Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, auctioned more than 2,000 acres in the Nenana Totchaket Agricultural Project and is planning a second sale. But some area residents say the state is moving too quickly to develop the ag project.

Several Nenana-area residents are asking the state to delay land sales in a 140,000-acre agricultural project just west of the town. They say the state should talk further with local residents and complete studies on the ag project’s soils and resources before continuing the sales.