AGRO-CLIMATOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN 

 THE PERMAFROST REGION OF THE TANANA 



VALLEY, ALASKA 



Basil M. Bensin 



Agronomist, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station 

 of the University of Alaska 



Agricultural exploration and development of Alaska are 

 among the present vital problems of national defense. Accord- 

 ing to the last Census, only 421,799 acres, 0.1% of Alaska's total 

 territory of 365,681,000 acres is farm land. The number of 

 farms is not growing but decreasing due to unfavorable climatic 

 and economic conditions. The greater part of the food used 

 in Alaska is imported from the States by sea, truck or air freight. 

 "Airborne" eggs, tomatoes and other perishables are among 

 the commodities sold in Alaska groceries for very high prices. 



The potential agricultural area of Alaska, as estimated by 

 G. W. Gasser, Territorial Commissioner of Agriculture, is 

 7,098,000 acres, located along the river valleys in the interior. 

 Most of this area has never been surveyed or explored sys- 

 tematically. Last year the Soil Conservation Service planned 

 to make a soil survey of various agricultural regions covering 

 an area of 4,104,320 acres during the coming years. However 

 a soil survey alone, without proper climatological analysis, is 

 not sufficient for proper evaluation of land. 



Climatic factors are an essential part of the marginal agri- 

 cultural environment of Alaska requiring special investigations 

 and analysis. The aim of this report is to present some basic 

 agro-climatological data of the Tanana Valley region obtained 

 by the author during six years of observations and experiments 

 conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station of the Uni- 

 versity of Alaska. This is part of an agro-ecological analysis of 

 this region, which is the largest and the most promising area 

 for agricultural use, and considered as a potential granary of 

 Alaska. 



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