We’ve released our first-ever Alaska Food Policy Council Annual Report, capturing stories and impact from around Alaska’s food system, highlight partnerships, initiatives, and ways for you to get involved. You can view and/or download the report below.
AFPC ANNUAL REPORTS
EXCERPT: A MESSAGE FROM OUR (FIRST EVER!) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
After 10 years working with producers in Homer, running the local farmers market, and launching the Alaska Food Hub, I joined the Alaska Food Policy Governing Board three years ago, hoping to represent the interests of farmers and fishers on the Kenai Peninsula. In January 2020, I humbly accepted the role of Executive Director. It’s truly an honor to be working toward such a worthy goal of food security for all. From the very beginning, starting with the Alaska Food Policy Council’s founding in 2011, our mission and focus have remained constant: to create a healthier, more secure, and more self-reliant Alaska by improving our food system. Bringing together diverse voices and ideas from Alaska’s food systems - individuals representing federal and state agencies, tribal entities, schools, university programs, farmers, fisheries, food businesses, and really anyone who eats - AFPC seeks to connect, advocate, and inform Alaskans on food systems issues.
During the last decade, Alaska’s food system has grown tremendously. According to the 2017 USDA Agricultural Census, the number of farms grew 30% in the face of a national 3% decrease, we lead in female farmers, and while we desperately need more growers to meet in-state demand, we are trending in the right direction. Farmers markets have doubled in number, workforce and industry development projects are underway, and food access and security have become more important in the hearts and minds of Alaskans. AFPC has helped bring together food systems practitioners through events like our biennial conference. In addition to this event held every 18 months, AFPC is dedicated to digging deep into food systems issues. In the past, we’ve held workshops on food hubs, farmers market food safety and accessing aid and grants during COVID-19. This year, we are planning quarterly food system webinars, focused on various topics and concerns voiced at the 2020 AFPC conference. We kicked the series off January 13 with a discussion on transportation and are looking forward to exploring issues and thinking through tangible solutions and actions.
As we start 2021, we look back on a year of tremendous challenge. 2020 was a remarkable year, for better or worse, on many accounts. We started the year with our first-ever executive director and ended with a very successful virtual conference focused on food sovereignty, rural food issues, and food entrepreneurship. In between, we traveled to Juneau to advocate on behalf of a stronger, more equitable Alaska food system. We launched two new working groups: the Indigenous & Traditional Foods and the Food Waste committees. As COVID-19 spread, we worked hard to address pandemic concerns, providing resources to help all links in our food system. This fall we gathered perspectives from state and national leaders to help inform voters with our candidate survey.
On behalf of the entire Alaska Food Policy Council, thank you, to each and every one of our members, supporters, event attendees, funders, critics, and beyond. We have several new initiatives planned for 2021, including our USDA funded Regional Food Systems Partnership project, focused on creating statewide networks, as well as building up our working committees - membership is open to anyone, so please consider joining. YOU are the Alaska Food Policy Council. Together we can build a better, more resilient tomorrow, for all Alaskans.
Robbi Mixon, Executive Director
Alaska Food Policy Council
