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AFFECT: Recap of the 2025 community-based farmer training program

Spinach Creek Farm

Our blog is a space for sharing and learning about various food systems topics across Alaska. We occasionally have Guest Blogs that highlight particular issues and stories of interest. The views in our Guest Blogs are not reflections of APFC positions. If you are interested in writing a Guest Blog, please contact info@alaskafoodpolicycouncil.org to discuss your idea!

Guest Blog written by Melissa Sikes: Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District’s Natural Resource Education Specialist and former AFPC Governing Board Member

The AFFECT (Alternative Fairbanks Farm Education & Cooperative Training) project run by the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District has been providing new farmer educational experiences for folks interested in farming in the interior of Alaska. AFFECT started with a USDA Community Foods Project Grant that was awarded in 2020. The grant funded project was designed to meet the food needs of low-income individuals in the Fairbanks North Star Borough community by providing a sustainable year round source of locally grown greens and other vegetables. AFFECT also was designed to offer workforce development with a farmer training program with the goal to assist, train, and provide assistance to Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) residents to start their own sustainable farming enterprises. The first farmer training program was held in the summer of 2022. For the next 2 ½ years, AFFECT provided not only the free summer farmer training program, but free community workshop programs open to all Fairbanks North Star Borough community members with topics such as food production, processing, and year round growing.

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During the summer of 2025, with funding from AFPC and Golden Valley Electric Association, FSWCD was able to offer a fourth year of the AFFECT Farmer Training Program. Starting on May 26 th and ending on August 25th, every Monday night, many local farmers provided farm exploration experiences for 15 students. Students were able not only to visit local farms but learn from seasoned professionals who shared their knowledge and innovative solutions to farming techniques that work in our climate. Students also assisted with tasks to help these farmers during their time there including planting, weeding, and harvesting. Farms we worked with this summer included Goosefoot Farm, OffBeet Farm, Alaska Fruits Orchard, Growing Roots Farm, Frontieress Farm, Risse Greenhouse, Vic Johanson’s Orchard, Heartspace Farm, and Spinach Creek Farm. Students also learned about lasagna gardening and other sustainable gardening practices including companion planting at the Corinthian Baptist Church garden. During the summer of 2025, over 350lbs of produce came out of the Corinthians and was donated to Breadline Stone Soup, Fairbanks Community Food Bank, and deserving families throughout Fairbanks. Some of the AFFECT students assisted with watering and harvesting at the Corinthian Garden.

The Farmer Training Program was coordinated by Abby Lutmer, a farmer herself who has an emerging farm, HeartSpace Farm, up on Haystack Mountain just north of Fairbanks. Her leadership and enthusiasm provided the students with insight from a new farmer who has written farm development grants and is in the process of expanding their production and developing and enhancing the soil in a new area that has never been farmed before.

We started the program with 15 students. On September 1st, we graduated 13 of those students, with an additional 2 people joining in on classes occasionally.

We are working on funding to continue the AFFECT program including the farmer training part of the program and are pursuing grants to realize the dream of an incubator farm to provide opportunities for AFFECT students who need a space to farm but aren’t in a position to purchase or lease farmland yet.

If you have any questions about the AFFECT program please contact Mel Sikes at mel.fswcd@gmail.com.

Abby Lutmer poses with her ginger harvest.

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