Northwest History. Alaska 7. Agriculture, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1928
• Subjects: Alaskan farms; agriculture; climate; milk cattle; Anchorage; arctic circle; icebound; Matanuska valley; Holstein and Galloway breeds; United States; fishing and mining industries; Kodiak; Sitka; Rampart; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska; Arctic; Fairbanks; Fireside; Pacific
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/88223

Alaskan Farms Get Place In Sun: Despite Short Summer, Agriculture Is Becoming Of Major Importance./Spuds Like Climate./Breeders Produce Hardy Strains Of Beef And Milk Cattle For Northland. ALASKAN FARMS GET PLACE IN SUN Despite Short Summer, Agriculture Is Becoming Of Major Importance. SPUDS LIKE CLIMATE Breeders Produce Hardy Strains of Beef and Milk Cattle for Northland. ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 7. (/P)- On the rim of the arctic circle, ice-bound and battered by the bleak winds of winter, Alaskan farmers are planning for the golden days of summer sunshine still five months away. Slightly more than 100 in number, but each almost 24 hours long, those days mean everything to agriculture "north of 61." In the Matanuska valley, 45 miles northeast of Anchorage, every fireside is a forum and each forzen twilight a time to discuss work when the "thaw" comes. Three hundreds miles further north, Fairbanks battles a temperature often 60 below zero, but there, as in all other farm settlements, more crops and more live stock are always interesting topics. Breed Hardy Cows. Dairying has made a place for itself in the far north, and is constantly expanding. Successful crosses ahve been made between the Holstein and Galloway breeds, the miling qualities of the former bledning with the rugged qualities of the later to produce a dairy type that can withsatnd winter temperatures and produce milk and butter on a parity with the ordinary cow. Reindeer raising and recent success at crossing the Galloway with the Asiatic polled yak for a hardy beef strain have conjured dreams that territorial farmers eventaully may reap the rich reward awaiting those who contribute to the increasing Alaskan beef market. The potato is by far the most important vegetable grown in Alaska. It responds rapidly to the 18 to 22 hours of continuous sunshine of summer. In their plans for 1928, farmers contemplate profitable returns from seed potatoes raised for shipment to the United States. Under present schedules, the fertile Matanuska will turn predominantly to potates and the so-called "truck" crops, strawberries, artichokes, lettuce, turnips, carrots, beets, peas and spinach. Grow Fine Wheat. Among the grain crops, wheat, oats, and barley prosper to varying degrees. Some of the finest wheat grown in the north is reaped in the Fairbanks region. The government has experiment stations, only a few hundred miles apart, but each in strikingly different farm regions. The Alaska Agricultural college is at Fairbanks, but there conditions are different from those at Matanuska, Kodiak, Sitka, Rampart. Wherever the location, federal agencies are working iwth the farmers to develop the particular agriculture suited to their environment, and the new year will bring them still nearer their goal -- elevation of farming to a position alongside the fishing and mining industries Alaska.