Eat Alaska First!

Alaska Means Business is pleased to welcome our newest ongoing column, “Eat Alaska First” by Bryce Wrigley.

Bryce Wrigley is a long-time advocate for Alaska’s food security and a pioneer in Alaskan agriculture.

Surrounded by snowcapped mountains and encircled by glacier-fed rivers, three generations of of Bryce’s family raise the world’s most nutritious hulless barley in Delta Junction, Alaska. The Wrigley family goes on to mill that Barley in Alaska’s only flour mill known as Alaska Flour Company.

Bryce is the founder of this growing Alaskan business phenom that sees Alaska Flour Company’s products like, Great Alaska Pancake Mix, Black Gold Browne Mix and their new line of barley crust frozen pizzas offered at dozens of retail outlets throughout Alaska and through our online store.

Bryce and his wife Jan first settled in Delta Junction, Alaska back in 1983, the Alaska Flour Company was just a dream. They imagined building a farm that would increase Alaska’s food security, create markets for fellow farmers, provide healthy, locally grown food options, and offer his children the opportunity to continue our operation into the future.

Armed with the knowledge of Alaska's unique conditions - a short growing season and long, dark winters - would require innovative farming techniques and never-say-quit determination. Bryce and his family cut firewood our first winter, eventually buying a 1,700-acre farm, on which he and his wife raised five children.

There is a lot of talk about using sustainable practices to farm. Farmers use terms like regenerative agriculture or sustainable agriculture to describe cultural practices designed to improve the quality of the soil. On our farm, we use a no-till grain drill to plant our crops. This equipment places seed and fertilizer into the soil without disturbing it. 

Minimizing soil disturbance protects the network of soil organisms that work together and depend on each other to build healthy soil structure. Extensive mycorrhizal networks transport nutrients to the plant in exchange for sugar, which the plants produce through photosynthesis. Tillage chops up this network. A healthy fungal network makes healthier plants. Healthier plants convert sunlight to sugar more efficiently. The more surplus sugar the plant creates, the more it can trade for nutrients to grow stronger. The soil microbes use the sugar, a form of carbon, as food.

Tillage also mixes the soil carbon with oxygen, creating carbon dioxide, which is lost to the atmosphere. No-tillage helps keep the carbon in the soil where a host of soil microbes use it as food. Using no-tillage also armors the soil, protecting it from wind and water erosion. 

No-tillage is one of the most important tools we use on our farm to protect and build the soil so we can grow the healthiest barley possible. It was perhaps the most significant decision we made to improve our soil. I’ll discuss some of the other decision next time. 

Bryce Wrigley

Alaska Flour Company/Wrigley Farms

Learn more about Bryce and his Alaskan Farming operation at alaskaflour.com