By Glenna Gannon
It has been an extremely busy and productive month for the Alaska Variety Trials and Permafrost Grown projects!
The Variety Trials have been planted in Fairbanks and Palmer.
This year we are evaluating over 130 cultivars of 17 different vegetable crops in Fairbanks and a subset of those in Palmer.
The trials in Fairbanks now include a high tunnel, and we will be comparing cultivar maturity rates and yield to field-grown plots. This month we also launched Arctic Berry Trials in Anaktuvuk Pass.
These trials are in collaboration with Gardens in the Arctic, where cultivars of haskaps (6), tart cherries (4) and currants (6) are being evaluated.
AFES research tech Amber Agnew (right) helps plant vegetables in new high tunnel beds in Anaktuvuk Pass with youth volunteers.
The Permafrost Grown team including myself, research tech Amber Agnew, INE faculty, Melissa Ward Jones and Ben Jones also were in Anaktuvuk Pass. The goal of the project is to evaluate the interactions between agricultural activities and permafrost and help inform best practices for high-latitude agriculture.
The team was able to help set up and instrument a high tunnel at the new home of Gardens in the Arctic, as well as, build and plant raised beds with local youth. As part of this project, four new weather stations have been installed around the state, including in Anaktuvuk Pass, the Fairbanks AFES farm and in Bethel.
Additionally, the Permafrost Grown project is also funding what we've dubbed "The Great Mulch Study" to evaluate the thermal impact of 11 kinds of plastic and organic mulches on soil at three depths (surface, 15 centimeters and 1 meter). This study will serve to both inform best cultural practices for farms and gardens with permafrost present, as well as fill in gaps on agricultural mulch research done by the AFES and Cooperative Extension in the past.
