News
Alaskan towns like Haines Borough are seeing greatly increased food bills due to high freight costs. These greater expenses compound the impact of already burdensome increased energy costs.
[This is an EXCERPT: for more about the impact on families and businesses in Haines Borough, Alaska, read the whole article here. -Ed.]
By Matt Hawthorne
The fuel surcharge on goods shipped by Alaska Marine Lines has jumped from 16.5 percent in April 2007 to 30 percent in June. Added to that is the higher cost of groceries, estimated at 8.5 percent during the past year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Members of the Haines Borough's Peak Oil Task Force identified the spiraling cost of food as a major issue last year and made a host of recommendations to the local government about buffering its effects in February.
Nancy Berland, co-chair of the task force's food security committee, said the borough hasn't made much headway with the 10 suggestions, which include creating tax incentives to foster local food production, and making agriculture, crop production and animal husbandry permitted uses in all zones.
"Maybe timing-wise, we were a little ahead of the curve, but we could see that (price increases) would happen. The point of the recommendations is that there would be no quick fix to it. We need to be prepared," Berland said.
Photo credit: Nathan Fixler 
