Agriculture in Alaska

Agriculture in Alaska faces many challenges, largely due to the climate, the short growing season, and generally poor soils.

However, the exceptionally long days of summer enable some vegetables to attain world record sizes.

In many parts of Alaska, the soil is acidic, and could greatly improve with the introduction of lime or wood ash.

Because Alaska was once dominated by glaciers, much of the underlying subsurface is glacial till, silt and sand.

[citation needed] The official state soil is the Tanana series, which is shallow, well drained, moderately permeable, and derived from limestone weathering.