8 Alaskan Science Conference 



these varieties have been increased under contract in Idaho 

 and Montana this year and will be released to Alaska farmers 

 for growing in 1951. 



Intensive studies are being conducted on methods of crop 

 culture, including rates, dates, and methods of seeding, fertility 

 requirements, weed control and the processing, handling and 

 storage of crops. As soon as more data are available it is antici- 

 pated that a project on crop rotation will be initiated. 



During the past seventeen months the Department of Agri- 

 cultural Economics has confined its attention to two major 

 projects. Using the basic information reported in 1948 by a 

 field party from the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, entitled Some Economic Aspects 

 of Farming in Alaska, station economists are continuing their 

 studies in farm management. These studies are difficult because 

 few of the farms have sufficient acreage developed to operate 

 economically. The soils are new, most of them having been 

 cleared and cultivated in the past fifteen years. Wide variations 

 in soil fertility, methods of crop culture and soil management 

 practices exist among the individual farms. Information on 

 these sketchy farm management factors is being tabulated 

 from on-the-farm-interviews. Data are being obtained on crop 

 yields, livestock numbers, equipment and building inventory, 

 labor distribution and use, and other considerations incident 

 to cost of operation and net farm income of various farm enter- 

 prises. 



The second phase of economic studies is concerned with 

 markets and the marketing of farm produce. This problem was 

 studied intensively in 1949 by station economists in collabora- 

 tion with economists from the Bureau of Agricultural Eco- 

 nomics. Their preliminary report, Markets for the Products 

 of Cropland in Alaska, has now been released to the public and 

 may be obtained through either the Bureau of Agricultural 

 Economics of the Department of Agriculture, or by applying 

 to the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of 

 Alaska, College, Alaska. At present this study is being con- 



