Greg Akagi (WIBW Radio/Kansas Agriculture Network, Topeka, KS) and his wife, Lisa, hosted 50 listeners on a Holiday Vacations 13-day tour of Alaska and Inside Passage Cruise. “Holiday Vacations does a wonderful job in tailoring tours to include looking at agricultural operations in the area that you’re going to,” Greg said. “This gave our listeners with us on the tour an opportunity to see Alaska agriculture up close and speak with those involved on a personal level about their daily operations.” The tour started with a three-day cruise aboard Holland America’s MS Vollendam through the inside passage of Alaska. After disembarking in Skagway, the group boarded the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway for a narrow-gauge train ride along the path of the legendary Klondike Goldseekers. “The scenery was breathtaking as we passed glaciers, mountains and waterfalls. Then, we headed to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
As we traveled down the Alaska Highway and crossed back into Alaska, we stayed in Tok, in the far eastern part of the state. This stay included a presentation from Hugh Neff, a dog musher from the local area and a participant in the Iditarod sled dog race. Neff is also the 2016 Yukon Quest champion, another high profile sled dog race.” About their agricultural visits, Greg said, “Heading further west on the Alaska Highway, our first agriculture stop was in the Delta Junction, Alaska’s largest agricultural area. We stopped at the Alaska Flour Company. They specialize in high-quality, artisan, stone-ground barley flour and barley cereal that they plant, grow, and mill on their 1,700-acre farm. Milo Wrigley, Alaska Flour Company General Manger, and his wife, Heather, who serves as Communications Director, talked to the group about the history of their family’s operation. The tour included a look at their production facilities, the types of products they make from their crops, and a discussion about the marketing of their product across Alaska.
Alaska Flour Company answers questions
from the group.
The tour group headed to Fairbanks and after visiting Santa Claus at North Pole, Alaska, panning for gold, and seeing the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline up close, the tour headed south towards Denali National Park. “What an incredible tour as we made our way through the park. They say if you see Dall sheep, moose, caribou and grizzly bears, you hit the Grand Slam on your tour of the park. We indeed hit the Grand Slam, which according to our park tour guide doesn’t happen often. As we made our way further south, we headed towards the Matanuska Valley, which is the state’s first agricultural center. Before we got there, we toured the Iditarod Trail Headquarters and learned more about the treasured Anchorage-to-Nome race. Our next agricultural stop was at Havemeister Dairy in Palmer, AK. It is a dairy farm/creamery and is the only Colonist-era dairy farm still in operation today. Family-owned and operated for the last 81 years, they have opened their own on-farm creamery producing Grade A milk. The dairy is one of only two operating dairies in the state,” Greg said.
processing, the product is delivered to retail
markets, coffee shops and restaurants across
the region.
“The last part of our Alaska tour took us through many areas around Anchorage. It included a visit to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and then on to Wittier to board a boat for a glacier cruise through Prince William Sound. What an awesome tour around the Sound to view nature’s beauty,” he said. 
(Shown below is one of several glaciers on the cruise through Prince William Sound.)
Concluding his tour description, Greg explained, “Our final day of the tour was a busy one. We headed out on a beautiful Saturday to the first weekend of the Alaska State Fair. We learned that when you have beautiful weather (74 degrees and abundant sunshine) that many Alaskans want to enjoy it. The fair was packed throughout the facilities. We even heard many Alaskans making the comments that it was hot outside. It truly is all relative to where you live and the weather you experience. Our final agricultural stop was at the Musk Ox farm. The historic 1930s-era Colony farm is located just 45 miles north of Anchorage in the Matanuska Valley, the heart of Alaskan agriculture in Palmer.” Greg adds, “If this animal doesn’t look familiar to you, don’t worry. It didn’t look familiar to any of our Kansas farmers either! The non-profit Musk Ox Farm is dedicated to the domestication of the Musk Ox, an Ice Age mammal that once roamed the earth alongside saber-tooth tigers and woolly mammoths. This once-endangered animal produces an annual harvest of qiviut (kiv'-ee-ute), the finest wool in the world. It’s the fur that is the undercoat of what you see in the picture. The cost of the 
wool is pretty staggering as well. It’s safe to say that Alaska agriculture is different in many ways. The people we talked to at the Alaska Flour Company, Havemeister Dairy, and the Musk Ox Farm say the Alaskan consumer is very loyal to products produced in their home state. All of our tour participants came away impressed with the beautiful scenery and the agriculture in Alaska,” Greg concludes.
