Small-grain trials in Fairbanks, Palmer

If you’ve ever driven by the agricultural fields at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and wondered what’s growing there, we have some answers.

Last week, UAF agronomist Mingchu Zhang oversaw the sowing of 32 varieties of wheat and other small grains, including two- and six-row barley, oats, canola and sunflowers in the fields, which are part of the Fairbanks Experiment Farm. The same varieties are also being grown at the Matanuska Experiment Farm in Palmer.

The trials have three major objectives, Zhang said. The first is to select a short-season spring wheat that will grow well in Alaska, adding to the state’s food security. The second is to evaluate a two-row feed barley that also can be used as a malting barley. The third is to find a canola variety with a short growing season that can be used as a cash crop and to rotate with the other grains. The canola and sunflowers can also be used for a short-season oilseed crop.

“Those are our contributions for Alaska food security,” said Zhang, who was named to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Alaska Food Security and Independence Task Force. Currently, Alaska imports about 95% of its food.

Bob Van Veldhuizen, a longtime UAF crop researcher and soils specialist, is overseeing the grain trials in Palmer. He said the seed varieties include one called Ingal, which was developed in Alaska in 1981, that is crossed with a Canadian variety. Other varieties come from Sweden and Washington State University.

The hunt for a wheat variety that will grow well in Alaska has been ongoing for well more than a century, dating at least back to the first agriculture experiment stations in Sitka in 1898 and Rampart in 1900. The problem Alaska farmers have had with wheat is that the varieties that grow to maturity in Alaska’s short growing seasons tend to “shatter,” meaning the grains fall off before the plant can be harvested.

Over the years, Zhang and Van Veldhuizen have tested dozens of varieties of wheat and barley. With each year, they hope to get closer to a variety that can be grown commercially in Alaska and close one gap in the state’s food puzzle.