MicroFEWs Team Learns from Farmers on Food Security Concepts

ACEP's Daisy Huang and Rich Wies, with Jen Schmidt of UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research and independent consultant Henry Huntington, attended the Alaska Food Festival and Conference to present on their MicroFEWS project. They also solicited feedback from people in the Alaska farming industry about whether the team’s ideas about food security mesh with farmers and food policymakers.

MicroFEWs is a National Science Foundation-funded project titled "Coupling infrastructure improvements to food-energy-water system dynamics in small cold region communities." The four-year project’s ultimate goal is to develop a novel systems approach to understanding the linkages between renewable energy use and its downstream impacts upon food, energy and water security in remote Arctic and sub-Arctic communities.

The MicroFEWs team found the experience and insights of Alaska's farmers to be invaluable to better understand what is possible and what is needed when it comes to growing food in Alaska.