The Alaska daily empire., 1920-12-20
TANANA VALLEY
 NEEDS 300 MORE
 ACTUAL FARMERS
Present Demand Exceeds Crop Supply Rich Re-
 turns for Workers.

Crop Oupply - Ncn Ne- turns for Workers.
 The biggest demand of Interior Alaska today is for 800 farmers to raise various crops for the local mar kets that are sending out hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for commodities which we have grown at home," declared P. J. Rickert, one of Fairbanks most prominent citizens who passed through Juneau Saturday night on the steamer Northwestern enroute to Minneapolis and other cities for a visit of several weeks.
 Wheat! Certainly we are grow ing wheat, and one of the principal objections of my visit to Minneapo- lis is to collect the Blue Ribbon which was awarded to the specimen of Fairbanks grown wheat as first prize in the State Fair there last year and to get the details of the award. And wheat is not the only grain we grow in the Panama Val ley district Oats are always suc- cess; as fine as can be grown any where in the world, and the de- mands of the local market exceed by far the crop that can be grown by the present number of farmers. Rye, barley and clover are equally as successful and our harvests are limited only because those of us who are engaged in the agricultural industry can do but so much work. The average yield for the entire dis trict in wheat and oats is consider ably above the average for the same grains in the States and the quality is far above normal.
 Vegetables in Demand
 The vegetables grown in the Tan ana Valley, including all root crops, potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, cabbage, celery, lettuce, onions, as well as green house products, are in demand, be- ing shipped down the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. In fact. said MT. Rickert, the crops grown last sea son have all been sold out, not being sufficient to fill all orders. Several hundred tons were sold to the All askan Engineering Commission to supply the various commissaries on the Interior end of the railroad.
 Room For Farmers.
 Not only is there q market TOT the produce which 500 additional farmers could grow every season, declared Mr. Rickert, but there IS lots of land on which successful farming can be done. This is on the public domain and homestead CTS can find no place in the world where their work even while they are building homes for themselves will reward them so richly. Hun dreds of thousands of acres of land ideal for farming are going to waste awaiting the coming of the settler At present we are only planning to supply the markets of the Interior but at a not far distant time, h. terior flour, as well as vegetables, will be sold on the Alaskan coast in competition with the products oi | the States"
 All the grain grown last season | had been threshed when MT Rick | ert left Fairbanks. Practically the entire surplus oat supply had been sold and all the flour that can be milled is grabbed up as fast as Il comes on the market. The milling tl.is fall has so far been done on small gaspower mill owned by the l Government Agricultural Experi- ment Station and used for that pur- pose during the last two years. larger mill, costing $17,000 is now in the process of erection. The mil site Is on Garden Island, the ele vator being on the railroad, and To- I cated just across the Cinema Rivei from the business section of Fair I banks. It will be completed early next year. Improved milling facili I ties, said MT. Rickert, will give { big impetus to wheat growing in thu I Interior.
 Association Big Factor.
 The Tanana Valley Agricultural As sociation, of which MT. Rickert ha \ been president for the past thre' years, has been a big factor in thu agricultural development in the dis trict. It now owns, he said. warn storage warehouse with facilitie for handling and automaticall! I grading all prdoucts and member have the privilege of using 1t il getting their produce on the mar ket. The purchase of the new f1ou mill was put over by the organiza ton. which has approximately 7' members. These aided by the Fair banks business men supplied tn money to buy the plant and shil 1t in.
 To Improve Methods.
 Tn the past" said MT Rickert our farming methods. have no been of the most modern, very littl . labor saving machinery being I use. This has had the effect of less pninp DrOductiOn and iucreaSin