The China Mail - Juneau food network combines difficult supply routes with deep sharing traditions

Juneau’s only highway ends about 40 miles north-west of the city, so most commercial food reaches its population of roughly 35,000 by water or air. Salt and Soil, operated by the non-profit Ecotrust, functions as an online farmers’ market and food hub, coordinating deliveries by ferry, barge and seaplane.

The often-cited claim that Alaska imports 95% of its food refers to products bought through the market and does not capture subsistence harvests or food shared without payment. State estimates indicate Alaskans gathered about 46 million pounds of wild food in 2014, the latest comprehensive figure.

Tlingit residents and other local communities maintain systems in which fish, game, plants and other foods circulate through extended families. Those networks provide an important layer of resilience in a city with little arable land, a short growing season and few commercial farms.

K.Lam--ThChM