Alaskans live at the end of a very long and vulnerable food supply chain. We have all seen empty shelves in our local grocery stores after a weather event or an earthquake. Although we fill our freezers each fall with local meat, veggies or subsistence foods, we still rely on 95% of our food from Outside.
I’ve been working on food security for most of my career, and believe it is central to the economic security, health and opportunity for Alaskans. Unfortunately, monopolizing the grocery market would reverse much of the good work so many Alaskans have done to boost local production and strengthen food supplies. While we work locally on food security, we also need our federal delegation and the Federal Trade Commission to fight for us.