ÃÛÌÒTV

May 2023 Outlook

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Planting agronomic variety trials in Palmer

— Bob Van Veldhuizen

Spring is here and planting has begun at the Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center. The agronomic crop variety trials have been planted for this season. This year, the studies have multiple sections. They include the traditional large-scale plots, which are six rows planted 6 inches apart and 30 feet long and replicated three times planted with the Wintersteiger Cone Seeder. This is a continuation of Mingchu Zhang's malting barley study in which research on both 2-row and 6-row feed and malting barley varieties are evaluated for their suitability for potential malt production in Alaska.

New for this year, and tied in with this research, are additional large plots of more malting barley varieties brought in by Jakir Hasan, assistant professor of Small Grain Breeding. The main goal of this research is to eventually find a suitable barley variety that not only has great agronomic characteristics in the field, but also good malting characteristics for the microbrewing industry in Alaska.

In addition to the large plots and also new for this year, are 1,200 single-row plots, each 10 feet long, where each plot is a single agronomic crop or variety. These plots are planted by hand with a one-row V-belt seeder. This research is to look at each new species or variety for their potential agronomic suitability for production in Alaska.

And as always, there are the demonstration plots which consist of all the agronomic crop varieties that were bred and developed by the ÃÛÌÒTV Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Stations over the years.

All of this research is duplicated at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm.

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Big crowds for Arctic Research Open House

— Julie Stricker

Hundreds of people turned out for the May 18 Arctic Research Open House on ÃÛÌÒTV's West Ridge. IANRE's exhibits attracted large crowds — people and mosquitoes — under sunny skies. Although the vice chancellor for research's office ordered twice as much ice cream as they had last year, they still ran out halfway through the event. More than 500 people attended, according to estimates from the VCR's office.

IANRE set up in Classroom 1W05 and the adjacent garage in the Arctic Health Building. We were very visible from the parking lot, Pingo Pete and the central tent, which helped draw traffic to us. It was a busy evening.

• Merriam Karlsson and Eric Cook brought out some lights and plants to demonstrate the different lighting techniques they're testing.
• Santosh Panda and Anushree Badola had posters, interactive displays to show some of their GIS work. A giant puzzle of Alaska was hugely popular with kids.
• Audrey Piatt and Jakir Hasan brought in a couple of examples of barley varieties and had magnifying glasses so kids could see the differences up close.
• Glenna Gannon was on hand to talk about the vegetable variety trials and answer gardening questions. She and Merriam also set up a sunflower plant giveaway.
• Art Nash brought in a greenhouse on a trailer to show season-extending techniques.
• Scott Faulkner of the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation Service set up a small hydroponic system.
• Katrina Paul organized publications and giveaways, and had lots of great advice, as always.
• OneTree Alaska set up in the Butrovich Building as part of the Center ICE contingent. Jan Dawe planned to have taste tests of syrup made from this year's sap.

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Alaska Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting

— DeShana York

The Cook Inlet Society of American Foresters hosted the 2023 annual event April 26-28 at the Sheraton Hotel. The theme was "Starting Anew-Reforestation in Wild and Urban Forests of Alaska." 

During the event, presenters discussed a wide range of talks, such as Alaska's position on carbon off-sets and tackling invasive chokecherry trees on the Kenai Peninsula.

Members of ÃÛÌÒTV's CES Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA) team participated in the event: Jessie Young-Robertson, Meg Burgett, and DeShana York, as well as Darren McAvoy, Extension assistant professor of forestry from Utah State University).

RREA led a listening session to gather stakeholder information around forestry needs. McAvoy delivered a presentation on "In-woods Biochar Production and Opportunities for Collaboration." He is working with DeShana to plan some sabbatical time in Alaska summer 2024 around in-woods biochar principles in collaboration with RREA.

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Link to avian influenza presentation

We've had several requests for the link to Alaska State Veterinarian Bob Gerlach's presentation on avian influenza on May 15. Here it is — his office asks that we share it widely because it is such an important topic. .
Passcode: xBg1q/ianre/outlook/2023/!5

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Time is running out to complete the Census of Ag

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is reminding producers that time is running out to respond to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The ag census gives producers the opportunity to help shape decisions that will impact their operations, communities, and the future of the industry for the next several years. The ag census data are used by agribusinesses, educators, researchers, federal and local government, and many others when making decisions about farm programs, loans, insurance, rural development, disaster assistance, and more.

If a census recipient produced and sold $1,000 or more of agricultural product in 2022, or normally would have produced and sold that much, they meet USDA’s definition of a farm.

However, landowners who lease land to producers, those solely involved in conservation programs, and even those who may not have farmed in 2022 are still required to respond.
Producers can respond online at or return the form by mail.

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Spring blooming trees and shrubs of Alaska

— Gino Graziano

Show us what trees and shrubs are blooming in Alaska between May 14 and June 30! Our goal is to address the invasive chokecherry (Prunus padus and virginiana) also known as bird cherry or May Day tree, to document native and non-invasive trees and shrubs that make spring flowering alternatives to the invasive tree. We also want to take advantage of documenting invasive chokecherry trees while they are flowering to help invasive species managers find new infestations.

Please DO NOT include locations of the invasive trees on private property, just anything growing feral on public land. 

There isn't any need to join the project, people just have to make observations in iNaturalist and they will automatically get added to the project.   on iNaturalist.

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The event will feature cooking with currants demonstrations by Indigenous chef Flora Deacon; education activities designed in collaboration with ÃÛÌÒTV Nutrition students (BIOL 120X); and a berry tasting hosted by the ÃÛÌÒTV Variety Trials Program. This event will be a pop-up location for the 2023 Arctic Fest, and host several education and outreach tables from Fairbanks sponsors including the Fairbanks Children's Museum, ÃÛÌÒTV IARC's Berry's Futures North Program and More. We invite anyone to attend this all ages event. Stay tuned for more information!

For questions, contact event organizers Glenna Gannon and Katie DiCristina.

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Check out our new YouTube videos

Heidi Rader filmed a series of videos spotlighting Southeast Alaska farmers from the Southeast Alaska Farmers Summit in Petersburg in February. The eight videos are grouped in a playlist: .
Separately:

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Glenna Gannon also has a new video highlighting the vegetable variety trials. You can .

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Drive Your Tractor to Work Day

May 1 was a beautiful day for a tractor parade in Palmer. IANRE Director Jodie Anderson is driving a John Deere 900 HC. Photo courtesy of John Whipple, Alaska Division of Agriculture

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Variety Trials Program gets underway for 2023

— Glenna Gannon

The Variety Trials Program is ramping up for the growing season!

Two part-time research technicians, Nicole Carter (returning) and Amber Agnew (starting May 15) are starting seeds in the Arctic Health Greenhouse, transplanting seedlings, and will be preparing the field (as soon as the snow melts!) in preparation for the 2023 growing season.

There will be some new aspects to the Variety Trials program this year: we will be revitalizing one of the Fairbanks farm high-tunnels and using it to trial tomatoes and hot peppers and other warm-loving crops; there will be an "Arctic Berries Trial" located in Anaktuvuk Pass, and; we plan to assess the nutritional values of certain crops based on growing conditions here at the Fairbanks Farm as well as from other farms located around the Tanana Valley.

The Variety Trials Program will also continue its partnership with the Georgeson Botanical Garden and ÃÛÌÒTV Office of Sustainability in the Harvest Project Collaborative to provide educational and training opportunities for ÃÛÌÒTV students. We are looking forward to a fun and productive 2023 field season!

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Alaska Food Policy Council featured

The Alaska Food Policy Council was featured recently by the Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center. It's a great  as part of a Food Policy Councils in Action spotlight series. Heidi Rader and Glenna Gannon are both on the board of the AFPC.

From the story:
Interesting fact about how they (AFPC) are working to positively affect the food system: Alaska is 2.5 times bigger than Texas but has only about 730,000 residents (as compared to  in Texas), with 86 percent of communities accessible only by boat or plane. The size of the state and the distribution of the population create logistical challenges to improving food systems and increasing food security. AFPC represents the entire state and is approaching these challenges from every angle in order to create a more sustainable food system.

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In memory of John Yarie

John Yarie, a professor of silviculture at ÃÛÌÒTV and former director of the ÃÛÌÒTV Forest Soils Lab, has died in Corvallis, Oregon, according to Jessie Young-Robertson.

Yarie was a quiet, gentle man who was department chair and chair of the regional section of the Society of American Foresters. He served at ÃÛÌÒTV from 1978 to 2017 and was named emeritus in 2017. Young-Robertson said Yarie had only recently moved to Oregon.

His research focused on boreal forest ecology and productivity, geographical information systems and the effects of drought and fire, according to his emeritus announcement. He was a tireless advocate for responsible and sustainable forest management in Alaska and mentored numerous master's and doctoral students.

His obituary is in the . (no paywall)

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4-H Update

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 2023 State Horse Contest

— Kenai Peninsula District 4-H

It takes a mountain of work, care, and detail to put on a state contest, and Kenai Peninsula 4-H wants to give a huge shout-out to the many people who were involved with the success of the 2023 Alaska State Horse Contest!

It was so wonderful to be able to host such an amazing event in our district this year, and we are thankful for the  alumni crew who brought some major muscle to the weekend;

• to for being wonderful venue hosts and impeccable event support;
• to , who has faithfully and diligently nurtured the 4-H horse programs and state horse contest for many, many years, delivering yet again a successful and full contest;
• to the volunteers in our community who gave up parts of their weekend to help make the event run so smoothly; to the 4-H leaders and coaches across Alaska who work hard with their teams all year, teaching them and helping them grow;
• and to the many 4-H’ers in our great state who are passionate about horses and the horse industry, and who are making the best better in their clubs, their community, their country, and their world.

Thank you for ALL you did to make Alaska 4-H horse programs shine this past weekend!

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In the News

• Art Nash's May 21 column in the News-Miner:
• Heidi Rader's May 14 gardening column in the News-Miner:
• Gooseberry Peter's column in the May 7 News-Miner:
• Jodie Anderson and Jasmine Shaw interview with KCAW in Sitka. Aired in Sitka, Kake, Angoon, Tenake, and Port Alexander: 

(Note, if you don't subscribe to the News-Miner, you can read Extension columns on the )

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