When we think about food production in Southeast Alaska, our minds may naturally gravitate towards those items we find in plenty around here: wild-caught salmon and halibut; hunted game; and maybe even some backyard-garden rhubarb and potatoes. Compared to many other cities across the country, our local environment is rich with food, even in our current-day context. It’s far beyond being capable of offering everything a well-balanced community might need to survive: simply look at the over 11,000-year-long legacy of Alaska Native people living in this area.
We, however, no longer live in well-balanced societies, and one such result of that is a disjointed system of food production and food transportation that has severely impacted what we put into our bodies. From decreased nutrient-density, quality and diversity of food products we eat to the devastating environmental burden felt globally from large-scale monocrop operations ridden with pesticide use and clear-cut mentalities, our current food production system is failing just about everyone. That is, everyone besides those few that profit off of the ruin.
While many of us in Juneau can proudly harvest at least some portion of our food intake, it’s safe to say that we’re all still quite familiar with and dependent on the aisles of Fred Meyer’s, Foodland IGA, and Safeway for the bulk of our food. Studies on crop production around Southeast Alaska are few and far between, and usually outdated by nearly a decade when they can be found, but suggest that well over 90% of the fresh vegetables consumed annually are imported. Even if we’re not growing our own food, neither are our neighbors and the results are a dangerous dependence on food imports and production. The results of this are felt by our wallets, our physical health, and our taste buds; not to mention by the soil, animals, and ecosystems affected by agribusiness.
When it comes to putting dinner on the table, there are ways to eat without contributing to clear-cutting, labor exploitation and large-scale pesticide use. Our current food system may be entrenched in plastic packaging, processed foods and tongue-tying chemicals, but there are solutions. To reduce the large problem into a very generalized, single point: We must start localizing our food sources if we are going to reduce the impact our toxic food systems are having on our bodies and the planet. As I look around here in Juneau, I can admit that it can be a tricky task to grow produce in a place that only gets about 44 days of sunshine per year.
One company making tangible steps in the right direction and providing sustainable, locally-grown food around here is Juneau Greens. With their brand new brick-and-mortar store opening November 8th, Juenauites are soon to benefit from their selection of organically grown, locally produced greens and herbs.
Owners John Krapek and Trevor Kirchhoff originally planted their first seeds in 2017 in a small condo garage space where they had 18 hydroponic grow beds. “We kind of expanded over time as we crammed every grow bed we could into all the spaces we had there, and ended up with about 41 grow beds [at our old farm],” Krapek said. As demand grew, so did the operation and with their new space, Juneau Greens now has 100 grow beds from which to produce a variety of lettuces and herbs.
Crop production using hydroponics is an extremely space, water and energy efficient way to produce food. Because it utilizes a closed-system loop where water is recycled, waste and runoff are virtually nonexistent, and transpiration is captured, hydroponics yields of lettuce have been shown to use about 13 times less water than conventional farming.
“I still think even with this farm, we’re kind of scratching the surface,” Kirchhoff said. With the current food system already operating at such a high scale, competing against the behemoth is no small challenge.
“I think what we can offer, which is cool being in an isolated place, is a fresher product,” said Krapek. “Here in our storefront, we’re going to sell everything as living plants.”
Studies show that once a plant is cut and harvested, within just a few days a certain percentage of their nutrition is lost. The longer the plant sits before consumption, the more the nutrient content can decrease. A way to mitigate this is by selling living greens and herbs complete with a root system and neat soil cube.
“What I’m really excited about is just having fresher, nutrient dense produce available to people,” Krapek went on. “Even if it’s not going to be every piece of produce somebody consumes, the more we can grow here the better and the less we can ship on the barge.”
Currently, Juneau Greens, partner company to Anchorage Greens, is well-known for supplying restaurants like In Bocca Al Lupo, The Rookery and Zarelda’s with fresh ingredients. With this new storefront, they’re hoping to really lean into subscription boxes so those restaurant-quality staples can go direct to consumers. “Every week people get two heads of lettuce, a bunch of leafy greens, and a bunch of herbs; rotated every week,” said Krapek about the subscription boxes.
As Krapek and Krichhoff seek to eliminate the need for single-use plastic throughout the process, they’re hoping the new storefront will give them more opportunities to get to know the community they’re serving. “It kind of takes having the connection with your customer, because we’ve tried to eliminate packaging at some of the [grocery] stores that we sell through, but I think a lot of customers are very interested in convenience and just grab and go,” said Krapek. “Here, we can have the conversation with them about bringing their own totes so we can just put the plants right in there for them to take home.”
The product, undoubtedly, speaks for itself. Of the two lettuce varieties Krapek and Krichhoff sent me home with, both had so much flavor and crispness that it would’ve been a disservice to eat them with a dressing. At the risk of sounding dramatic, I didn’t realize lettuce was ever meant to be something besides a vehicle for other flavors.
While solutions to problems of global food production may be ever-present, the operation at Juneau Greens is certainly a step in the right direction for anyone concerned with health, sustainability, or just straight-up flavor.
Rachel Levy is a Juneau-based photojournalist whose work culminates at the intersections of environmental justice, arts and culture, and sustainable tourism. A 2022 graduate of Harvard University's Environmental Policy program, she is also the director of the award-winning documentary "Hidden in Plain Sight" that exposes the labor exploitation and colonial framework burdening Tanzania's safari industry.
