The US Department of Agriculture states there were 762 farms in 2012, up from 686 in 2007. However, for some farmers like the ones that own Alaska Flour Company farming isn’t just about self-sustainability-- it’s about improving Alaska.
In 1955, Alaska produced 55 percent of its own food. Today, however, 95 percent of Alaska’s food products come from out of state sources. There is currently an emergency food plan set up by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management but the supply is only meant to feed 40,000 people for seven days. There are 730,000 people in Alaska.
Bryce and Jan Wrigley are the founders of the Alaska Flour Company but the family has been farming in Delta Junction for three decades. Originally the farm only produced animal feed. However, in 2011 the family decided it wanted to shift gears to build new markets and be able to pass on the farm to future generations.
Bryce Wrigley says the family decided they also wanted to focus on supplying some food security in Alaska.
“After observing local disruptions to the Alaska Transportation system on numerous occasions, and during the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, they couldn’t get food into those people for two weeks. With all the resources we have in America we couldn’t get food into those people for two weeks. All these things kind of culminated into a thought process ‘What if something like that happened up here? How would we eat?’ Since we were already raising grain we started thinking about shifting from animal food production to people food production.”
Wrigley says his goal is build up enough capacity so that in the event of a disaster, he could help provide flour for the state. That desire to create an emergency food supply is part of the reason the USDA recently granted the Alaska Flour Company a grant of over $91,000. Wrigley says the cost share grant is helping the company branch out.
“It would help pay for some of the new packaging so it was more appealing, it was a very basic package. So we are in the process of upgrading our packaging to make it more appealing to consumers. We’re also going to need to do more travel and meeting and working with the larger stores to try to get our products introduced. That’s a very time consuming thing. This will help pay for some of the cost of the travel.”
Wrigley says the grant wasn’t just given to them. Lots of time and effort went into preparing the paperwork to request the money.
“Certain thing you do for any grant. You have to meet the judging criteria, come up with a budget, stay true to your idea, your goals, your purpose because you have to report on this. You better darn well be doing to do what you’re planning to do because you have to report on this. I would say it took about a month of solid work.”
The Alaska Flour Company is the epitome of the family business. Both he and his wife work for the company. So do one of his sons, his daughter and his daughter-in-law. All of the family helps with the family farm.
The company uses barley to create its flour. Barley is more reliable in Alaska than wheat and, Wrigley says, is healthier in many ways. However, flour isn’t all the company makes. Barley flour, cereal, couscous, pancake mix and tea are just the beginning-- Wrigley says he’s hoping to branch out.
“We’re coming out with new products all the time. We’ve got another pancake mix that we’re making that will be coming out soon as well as a couple cookie mixes.”
Although the Alaska Flour Company doesn’t have any distributors in the Dillingham area, their products are available online at www.alaskaflourcompany.com.