No bells, fireworks or champagne marked the occasion, but it was a joyous moment for Bryce Wrigley and his family when they ground barley to make flour. The news of the first time in decades a commercial flour mill has operated in Alaska has been met with enthusiasm. Not long after Wrigley set up his Alaska Flour Co. Facebook page he attracted nearly 500 fans and had calls from as far away as Nome, Dillingham, Cordova and Valdez requesting flour.
“We won’t be extending that far this first year,” Wrigley said. Asked why he chose to invest in such an expensive operation, Wrigley said he and his wife Jan wanted to do something to provide food for Alaskans. They started their journey by visiting flour mills around the Lower 48 when on vacation last year.
This fall he ordered equipment for the mill from Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan and has been working hard ever since to get the business up and running.
“The food security stuff really kicked it off,” Wrigley said. “Since Hurricane Katrina, it’s been on my mind.”
When looking at the food pyramid, Alaska can grow something in every category he said.
“Why can’t we get to the point of raising enough food in the state for three months?” he asked. In the event of a pandemic, Wrigley said the government has addressed masks and rubber gloves but not food.
“It takes 90 days for a pandemic to run its course,” he said. “We have a one-week supply of food in state, so all we need is two months and three weeks.”
Wrigley has high hopes that the state and university can continue agricultural research. “We are the most vulnerable state,” he said. “We have to take care of ourselves, otherwise the time will come when we can’t.”
Wrigley, who is a grain farmer and president of the Alaska Farm Bureau, said he tried to get other folks interested in starting a mill. His research included all the details of not only grinding grain but also packaging and marketing flour.
The impressive electricpowered mill can produce a 20-, 40- or 100-mesh grain (the higher the number, the finer the grain) and Wrigley is working with Ingal wheat and Sunshine hull-less barley to produce flour. He grows both on his own farm and is hoping to convince neighbors to join the endeavor. “It will change the crops we raise,” Wrigley said. He plans to plant 200 acres of barley and 300 acres of wheat this year.
The mill capacity is 700 to 1,000 pounds of flour per hour. He hopes to produce 100 tons the first year, 900 the next and 1,500 in five years.
“We’re going to ramp up production as fast as we can sell it. If I can’t keep up with store demand, I’ll be tickled.”
Pricing will be similar to other specialty flours, Wrigley said. “I’m not trying to complete with Gold Medal.”
Through the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service studies, it has been found that mixing half barley flour with half wheat flour produces the best baking results. It’s better to mix the two because barley holds moisture.
For barley flour recipes, including cornbread, brownies, banana bread, pancakes, carrot cake, cookies, crackers, muffins, noodles and pie crust, visit the Extension publications website.
For the future, Wrigley is considering the production of brownie, cake and pancake mixes. The flour is sold in Fairbanks at Alaska Feed and Homegrown Market and in Anchorage at the Natural Pantry.
One huge bonus to opening the mill has been that while the Wrigley farm hadn’t been making enough money to keep the adult children employed and they had all moved Outside, the eldest son Dallen has moved home from Idaho with his wife and four children to help with mill operations.
“I’m excited to pass this farm to subsequent generations,” Wrigley said, beaming.
This column is provided as a service by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Nancy Tarnai is the school and station’s public information officer. She can be reached at ntarnai@alaska.edu.
Contact info:
www.alaskaflourcompany.com
907-895-4033
bryce@alaskaflourcompany.com and on Facebook
http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/16958341/article-Alaska-farmer-starts-milling-flour-to-address-food-security-concerns?instance=home_features_bullets1
Cross Slot No-Till Grain Drill
We have switched to a no-till operation on our farm to improve the soil structure, retain moisture, and reduce the amount of fuel needed on our farm. For those of you who may not know much about growing grain, the video below may be interesting. Ultra low disturbance planting preserves the microbial colonies in the soil that are necessary for good soil health.
Back of a Napkin Quick Economics:
If 20 bushels/acre x 60 lbs/bushel x 200 acres = 240,000 lbs barley
Plus
If 15 bushesl/acre x 60 lbs/bushel x 300 acres = 270,000 lbs wheat
Summary:
Barley = 240,000 lbs
Wheat = 270,000 lbs
========
Total about 500,000 lbs +/-
If Alaska flour sells for $4/lb then Gross Sales $2,000,000
Business proposition? Time will tell.
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