The Native Village of Unalakleet (NVU) in Western Alaska intends a cooperative agreement with the USDA for a new Local Foods Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Program. The Tribal Community is underserved in terms of access to locally grown and minimally processed food products. To the degree possible, tribal members engage in subsistence activities for wild game, fish/sea mammals, and berries. However, the food commodities that are available in the local grocery stores are from Lower 48 food suppliers, flown in from 2,000 miles away and further. These groceries are boxed, canned, and frozen, and have lost much of their nutritional value in the transit and extended storage processes. Alaska grown vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy products are not available within the community due to the higher costs of food purchased from smaller-scale farmers, with added transportation expenses. Most of the small local food producers, with limited inventory and human resources, prefer to sell their products in the closer more urban environments.
NVU’s LFPA project will allow residents of this remote far Western Alaska community to access locally grown/minimally processed vegetables, eggs/dairy, and meat/poultry. NVU will contract with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in the Matanuska Valley north of Anchorage, on the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, and in North Pole/Delta Junction outside of Fairbanks, and with reindeer herders in the Norton Sound Region of Alaska. Food distributions will be to the 734 Unalakleet residents at least once a month, especially targeting Low-Income and Elders. Expected outcomes are: 1) increased nutritional food values; 2) decreased food insufficiencies; and 3) expanded markets for small Alaska farmers and herders, including those considered to be socially disadvantaged.