Growers/Harvesters

Ben Vanderweele/Vanderweele Farms

Ben Vanderweele and his wife emigrated from the Netherlands to Alaska in 1967 to farm. Over the last 40 years, Vanderweele Farms has set the standard for agriculture in the Matanuska Valley.

Vanderweele obtained a degree in agriculture while in Holland, where he studied crop sciences, basic physics, chemistry, social structures and economics.

His farm is well known for producing potatoes and vegetables, of which, the majority of the produce grown is sold to Carrs/Safeway, Fred Meyer and some independent Alaska Bush grocers, as well as through local farmer markets and the Alaska Chip Co.

Vanderweele Farms is a family-owned limited liability corporation that includes three grown children, Ben and his wife.

Vanderweele started a carrot cutting and peeling operation in 2002, building a state-of-the-art facility for production and storage of baby peeled carrots. He has built one of the largest vegetable farms in the state, growing, among other items, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. The farm employs a crop rotation schedule to control damage caused by disease and insects.

Vanderweele was instrumental in the development of the South Anchorage Farmers Market and is a supporter of the Alaska Grown program.

Since 1967, Vanderweele has seen significant changes through technology improvements, such as the diversity and quality of hybrid seeds now available. There have also been great strides in agricultural practices, and irrigation techniques have seen phenomenal improvements.

It is now possible to farm profitably in Alaska. Vanderweele is a 10th-generation farmer and now growing an 11th and 12th in Alaska.

Kevin Sidelinger/SeaFarms of Alaska

Kevin Sidelinger was raised in Maine and is a third-generation farmer of German heritage. His family had a 200-acre subsistence farm. Sidelinger came to Alaska in 1971 looking for adventure and wilderness. He met his wife, Lucinda, while working in China Poot Bay, near Halibut Cove. There, they ran a brown bear photography camp for a number of years, and Sidelinger later built the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies in Homer.

On a cold, snowy February day, the couple and a friend traveled to Seldovia to sit in on a seminar about farming oysters. More than 15 years ago, there was little infrastructure or support to develop this industry, but Sidelinger persevered to build an oyster farm in Halibut Cove. They have now been farming for 15 years, successfully transporting product 52 weeks a year. Sidelinger has been able to utilize the time that he is not harvesting or managing his oysters to build a lodge. The Ridgewood Lodge, opening this summer, will allow visitors to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and feast on locally grown and harvested oysters.

The Sidelingers have been growing oysters in suspended culture gear, nets hanging in the top 20 feet to the surface, in five- and 10-tier nets. Through the years, SeaFarms of Alaska has increased its plantings and purchased more nets and buoys.

With yearly planting of baby oysters, SeaFarms of Alaska has a continuing crop of oysters ready for market in about 18 to 20 months of growth. The demand for the oysters within the state has been so great that the firm has not been able to meet demand.

SeaFarms of Alaska has overcome the challenge of marine fouling that happens every summer. Caseworms, barnacles and blue mussels “set” on the oysters, long-lines and buoys every summer. The Sidelingers spent two years experimenting with a warm-water dip for the oysters. They found a temperature that rids the nets of the blue mussel, barnacle and caseworm spat, but does not harm the oysters. This leaves the oysters to feed freely, and the work involved with harvesting has been greatly reduced. The biggest advantage to the dipping method is that the oysters grow much faster without competition from other mollusks.

As a cooperative, SeaFarms of Alaska has obtained the Alaskan Grown label.

Bruce Gore/Triad Fisheries

Bruce Gore was 7 years old when he caught a 44-pound salmon and sold it for $27. It was the spark that started a long and pioneering career in the fishing industry.

Gore Grew up in Longview, Wash., and started fishing with his dad commercially in a 16-foot skiff through grade school and junior high. He continued fishing commercially through high school and then during the summer during college breaks. He spent most of his time in Southeast Alaska, but remembers one summer in Kodiak, where they used a pitchfork to move fish from an un-refrigerated hold to the dock. He knew there had to be a better way to handle fish.

In 1970, Gore bought a boat and began harvesting himself. He eventually moved to hook-and-line system that provided him total control of the handling of the fish from the very start. He took good care of his fish, but the price paid at the dock was no different then if he had not taken any care at all. He knew there could be an opportunity to distinguish himself and create a direct market. He recognized that the Seattle area had a void of high-quality seafood and was ideal for his first trials and direct market development.

By 1975 Gore's harvesting bore no resemblance to what others were doing. He bled, iced and glazed the fish, handling the fish through to his customer like a premium food product. He had a gut instinct that he needed to process his food in this manner, it was simply the right thing to do. In 1978, he designed his own vessel, called the Triad, to process frozen at sea. He began what was the likely first Alaska effort to create a chain of custody by tagging and tracking his fish that bore the name Bruce Gore. All of his fish were traceable.

As Gore educated and developed his markets, food writers became enamored with his product and often featured “the Bruce Gore” story in their columns and shows. Julia Child featured Bruce Gore fish, making a big impact on his market.

For the last 37 years, Gore has made a business for himself out of harvesting, processing and marketing Alaska salmon. Triad Fisheries Ltd. is a premier supplier of frozen-at-sea salmon. Although he recently retired from fishing, Gore now devotes his energies to running Triad and working with his markets in Japan, Europe and the United States. The Bruce Gore product has gained market identity on all three continents, and he allocates approximately a third of his harvest to each. Gore further separates himself from others by being a market-driven harvester, rather then production-driven. He takes orders and produces the product his market has purchased.

Manufacturers/Processors

Geoff Larson/Alaskan Brewing & Bottling Co.

Geoff Larson graduated from the University of Maryland in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. Upon graduation, Larson worked in research and development for Kemp Manufacturing and was responsible for developing and field testing ethanol-processing equipment. He completed additional studies in brewing science at Siebel Institute of Technology and a brewing apprenticeship at Millstream Brewing.

In 1985, he founded Alaskan Brewing Co. with his wife and partner, Marcy. Geoff and Marcy were 28 years old at the time they started the brewery. The company's flagship product is Alaskan Amber. Alaskan also brews Alaskan Pale, Alaskan ESB, Alaskan IPA and Alaskan Stout in addition to a number of seasonal beers. Alaskan Brewing has won more medals at the Great American Beer Festival than any other small brewery in the country. The company has experienced an average growth rate in sales of 24 percent over the past 20 years. Alaskan Brewing has issued profit sharing and stock dividends each of the last 11 years.

Alaskan Brewing was financed by 87 investors, most of whom are still stockholders today. The typical stockholder was an established Alaskan resident, made an investment of $5,000 in the company, liked beer, was 32 years old and was part of a double-income household with kids. Since the initial offering 20 years ago, the only new stockholders allowed to invest in Alaskan Brewing have been its employees. Of the employees eligible to invest in the company, 80 percent have done so.

Scott Haines/Denali BioTechnologies

Scott Haines, president of Denali BioTechnologies, has fueled the effort to bring new industry to Alaska. Alaska is a virtual treasure chest full of powerful plants and berries. Haines has utilized the bounty to develop the first and only nutraceutical company in Alaska, and the first in the world to harvest from a boreal environment.

Haines has successfully taken plants and berries from Alaska that have been scientifically validated to contain exceptional health properties and transformed them into a food flake and a nutritional supplement. The food flake may be used in a host of other food products to increase their nutritional value. Denali BioTechnologies develops nutraceuticals based on respected research that ties many common health problems to the insufficiency of these key nutrients in the modern Western diet.

Denali BioTechnologies uses a refractance window dryer to dry Alaska plants and berries into flakes, while retaining their nutritional values. There are only 27 refractance window dryers currently being utilized in the world.

Haines is an expert in automation engineering with an emphasis on factory/manufacturing automation. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical/electronic engineering through a joint program offered by Seminole Community College and the University of Central Florida. Haines' career has taken him to a number of prominent companies including Rockwell Automation, Slim-Fast Foods, ConAgra Dairy Foods, Universal Studios and the Walt Disney Co. Haines also served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service aboard the USS Flying Fish.

Chuck Bundrant/Trident Seafoods

As a young man with a strong sense of adventure Chuck Bundrant came to Kodiak from Tennessee in early 1960s. He worked as a deckhand on fishing vessels for several years, eventually working his way up to captain and then purchasing a crab boat. He worked his way west to Dutch Harbor and continued to grow. He built one of the first crab catcher/processors, the Billikin. He worked the boat hard in the Bering Sea, often using Alaskans as shipmates. This laid the ground floor for Trident Seafoods.

Bundrant built a shore-based processing plant in a remote location in Akutan — with no airport, boat harbor or large city infrastructure. The frozen fish from Akutan and the factory trawlers are distributed all over the world.

Trident Seafoods was founded in 1973. A year later, the partners joined with Edd Perry, a Bellingham processor, and his company, San Juan Seafoods. In 1984, the partners were joined by fisherman Bart Eaton, who stepped in to pioneer new fishing technologies and manage the company's rapidly expanding fleet of company-owned vessels and independent catcher vessels. By that time, seafood buyers in Japan and Europe were regular customers, purchasing salmon, herring, shellfish and groundfish products caught by Trident's fishermen and processed at Trident's Alaska facilities.

Trident leads the Alaska seafood industry in the production of crab, canned sockeye salmon and frozen Bristol Bay sockeye. Trident also ranks among the state's top-five producers of pollock, cod, herring and canned pink salmon.

Bundrant has built a research facility in conjunction with value-added plants in Washington state to develop new products. The Trident Alaskan salmon burgers and Ultimate fish sticks, Pubhouse and Panko products are finding favor with customers, not to mention canned products. He has also pushed Alaska products — whether it is salmon, pollock fillets, pollock blocks, surimi or fishmeal — into worldwide markets. He often follows a season on being on the fishing grounds and in the plants by jumping on a plane to sell the products personally.

Market Development

Ralph Carney/Alaska Chip Co.

During a vacation in Hawaii, Ralph Carney was snacking on Maui Chips when he told his wife, “We can do this in Alaska.”

Turns out, he was right.

After an involved process of researching everything from the cooking process, factory design and the bagging process, the certified public accountant and his wife, Darcy, jumped into the potato chip business with both feet.

The chip factory in Anchorage became fully operational in July 2003, with Carrs/Safeway as the Alaska Chip Co.'s first customer. Since then, the chips have found their way to the shelves in many more retail outlets through the help of distributors and are now being stocked at convenience stores.

The Carneys use Alaska-grown potatoes from Ben Vanderweele and offer four flavors in 1- and 5-ounce bags.

Ralph Carney was born in Wasilla and raised on a dairy farm just outside of town. Darcy Carney, also a CPA, was born and raised in Anchorage. She is co-owner of the Alaska Chip Co.

Ralph Carney went to college at Eastern Washington University to get his bachelor's degree in accounting, and shortly after that passed the exam to become a certified public accountant. He then went to work for a small CPA firm in Anchorage, where he did accounting and tax work for multiple small businesses.

After five years of public accounting, Carney decided it was time for a break from deskwork and went to work in construction for the next two years. He gained valuable experience by being involved in all the various phases of residential construction, including framing, plumbing, electrical, Sheetrock and finish work.

After getting married in 1997, Carney decided it was time to go back to year-round work in accounting. He worked as the accounting manager for Alaska General Alarm, a job which he held for two years, and then moved to the Blood Bank of Alaska, where he was chief financial officer for two years.

The couple lives and works in Anchorage and have two children, Haley, 8, and Ally, 7.

Rob Baer and Mark Witteveen/ Alaska Spirit LLC

Alaska Spirit LLC is headquartered in Kodiak, where traditional knowledge meets modern, sustainable fisheries management and state-of-the-art fish processing.

Co-owners Rob Baer and Mark Witteveen have spent the last several years developing their Kodiak Solstix Wild Salmon Jerky products to meet their personally high standards. In an effort to achieve the highest possible level of quality in their seafood products, Baer and Witteveen have worked closely with the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Fishery Industrial Technology Center to refine their salmon products.

Harvested in their prime from the pristine waters surrounding Kodiak Island in the heart of the North Pacific, Solstix Wild Salmon Jerky is made using exclusively wild, sustainable Alaska salmon. These salmon are from healthy, sustainable stocks harvested using environmentally friendly techniques, and are refrigerated immediately upon their removal from the water. They are processed with quality in mind to provide the best product possible.

Baer developed his appreciation for the outdoors while recreating with his grandfather in Canada and the New England states. After completing his bachelor's degree in fisheries and wildlife, he experienced the Alaska wilderness and has remained in Alaska since. Baer has dedicated the last 12 years of his career to the research and development of Alaska fisheries as a fisheries biologist. He spent several years curing and smoking his own fresh salmon before the development of Alaska Spirit's salmon jerky. He also brings 10 years of small business management experience obtained through his family-owned and -operated convenience store.

Witteveen grew up in Kodiak, surrounded by commercial and sport fishing. He is currently a fisheries biologist and is involved with fisheries at all levels. After a lifetime of consuming all types of seafood and smoking salmon using various methods, Witteveen has developed a meticulous taste for seafood. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in fisheries, 10 years experience in the Pacific salmon commercial fishing industry, 12 years of employment as a fishery research and management biologist, and a lifetime of experience in processing and development of smoked salmon products.

Maureen McKenzie/ Denali BioTechnologies LLC

With her strong background in science, Maureen McKenzie and Denali BioTechnologies LLC are sleuthing out the health benefits tucked away in Alaska's natural bounty.

Denali BioTechnologies focuses on plants, microbes and marine organisms that thrive in harsh habitats, with special emphasis on novel molecules from psychrophiles, or cold-lovers. The firm has jumped in the fast-growing nutraceutical market with the production of Aurora Blue, a health supplement based from Alaska wildberries. The company recently opened a manufacturing plant in Soldotna to produce Aurora Blue and other nutraceutical and food supplement products. Aurora Blue was put out in both domestic and international markets last year, and is the first product of its type developed in the state.

McKenzie, the chief executive officer of Denali BioTechnologies, has almost 20 years of experience in biotechnology as an entrepreneur, researcher and executive.

McKenzie was affiliate assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Iowa State University in 1994, and was an assistant professor of chemical biology and pharmacognosy, and a member of the Laboratory for Cancer Research in the College of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, from 1990-1993. From 1989-1990, she was a research/teaching specialist in the departments of Biochemistry and Environmental and Community Medicine of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. McKenzie was a staff fellow scientist in the Diabetes Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., from 1987-1989.

McKenzie holds a doctorate in biochemistry from a joint program of Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Princeton University, a master's degree in food science from Rutgers (1982) and a bachelor's degree in nutrition/food technology from Iowa State University (1978).