Two small startups “with a starkly different vision of how to grow produce year-around, under uniquely Alaskan conditions,” hope to reap profits, along with vegetables, in a state where the food chain is long and prices are high, says the New York Times. “The salad wars are on.” Alaska Natural Organics grow greens hydroponically under blue and red LEDs in a former dairy warehouse in Anchorage. It sold its first crop in the fall.
Vertical Harvest Hydroponics converts cargo containers “into indoor grow spaces that can be installed in restaurant basements, parking lots or remote, off-the-road-grid villages where the only access — for people or produce — is by air or sea,” says the Times. A company founder says the target market is northern communities where a head of lettuce can cost $7. The converted cargo containers cost nearly $100,000 apiece.
“While locally grown produce has become more common in recent years, farmers and food distributors tend to focus on the state’s biggest cities, especially Anchorage, leaving rural residents out in the cold,” says the Times. “Obesity rates rose faster in rural Alaska than in the urban areas from 1991 to 2012, a state report said, though health experts cautioned that other factors, including access to doctors and high smoking rates, could also have contributed.”