When one is discussing farming, Alaska isn’t the first place that usually comes to mind. Most of the state isn’t good for it. Some crops do well in our short, cool summers; pumpkins, some cabbages, potatoes, and other truck crops. Many others do not. But this is changing.
No matter what the cause, summers in Alaska are a little warmer than they were when the United States bought the property from Russia. The reasons, well, we could argue those all day; ocean currents, solar cycles, the ongoing interglacial period that has been underway since the last Ice Age ended, and yes, humans have some effect.
But while the climate is a popular bugaboo of the left, especially the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) of the “progressive” left, there are positive aspects to a warming climate. Some of those benefits are being seen in Alaska right now, where parts of the Great Land are blossoming into farmland.
(The) warmer temperatures and changing seasons have also had another impact: Climate change is making agriculture more possible in many parts of Alaska. That’s driving a new enthusiasm for farming across the state.
Few of the state’s rural villages have farms or even community gardens. So in 2020, (Alaska Native Eva Dawn) Burk decided to start a training program to teach aspiring Alaska Native farmers how to grow their own food.
The goal, she says, is to help Alaska communities that are being most affected by climate change — and to shore up food security as traditional foods become more unpredictable.
“An Indigenous value is to be prepared for the future,” Burk says. “What our program is doing is working to prepare some of the most vulnerable communities.”
While the piece begins with the usual climate change hand-wringing, one can’t overlook the increase in arable land.
Consider the implications of this. Consider the many dire predictions of the climate change crowd that haven't materialized – and then consider the possibility of vast increases in arable land in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.
See Related: The Sky Is Falling! Only It Isn't. Climate Doom-Mongers Almost Always Get It Wrong.
It’s already happening here in the Great Land.
“We’re successfully able to grow things like artichokes and field-grown tomatoes, peppers and corn here in Fairbanks,” says Glenna Gannon, a professor of sustainable food systems who runs crop trials at UAF. “I don’t think 30 or even 10 years ago that would have been successful.”
The state’s tiny agriculture industry is growing fast. The number of farms in Alaska has nearly doubled over the last two decades — from just about 600 in 2002 to almost 1,200 by 2022.
As with everything, there are always tradeoffs.
Plenty of people here have gardens, and you see a lot of greenhouses. Alaskans, natives along with everyone else, value independence and self-sufficiency. A lot of people grow a fair amount of their own produce (we lean heavily into raspberries) and it looks like this trend will be increasing.
It’s hard to see that as anything but a positive.
See Related: Harvard to Train 'Planetary Healers' to Save World From 'Climate Change' and 'Structural Racism'
Whatever the reason, Alaskan summers have, in the last few years, been getting milder. This has happened before in other locales; when the Romans occupied Britain, that island was warm enough to grow wine grapes. If a few degrees increase in average summer temps allows us to grow sweet corn, green beans, and cucumbers without the benefit of a greenhouse, that seems like a good thing. That's not limited to Alaska, either; as mentioned, large parts of Canada and Siberia may well be transformed into breadbaskets as well.
Climate change happens. It always has and always will. We have discussed, endlessly, the reasoning behind the left’s claims about climate change, and about whether or not it’s worth abandoning our modern lifestyle for – it’s not. But there are some benefits to a slightly warmer summer in some places – and Alaska is one of those places.
