Local leaders hope to grow more food – by lowering taxes – in a fight against food insecurity

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – With food insecurity plaguing swathes of Anchorage, in a state largely reliant on food imports, some local leaders and organizations are hoping to incentivize gardening, urban agriculture and permaculture throughout Anchorage.

AO 2025-62 is sponsored by Anchorage Assembly Member George Martinez, who said he grew up in a “food desert”. Martinez wants to increase the amount of locally grown sustenance to address the needs of those living in food deserts in Alaska’s largest city.

“Anchorage is one of the most food insecure places in the United States of America,” Martinez said.

“We receive 95% of all of our food through import. So, the conversation of food security and our local resiliency is a critical conversation that we all should be having.”

The ordinance would define “farming activity” as “raising and harvesting crops; feeding, breeding, and managing livestock; dairying; propagating, farming, or cultivating an aquatic farm product as defined in AS 16.40.199; or any 23 combinations of those activities.”

Under that definition, private property used for farming activity would be eligible for a tax exemption, if the owners or leases sell at least $2,500 of agricultural products in the calendar year and file for an exemption with the IRS.

”In total, we’re talking about up to 50% tax reduction on the property,” Martinez said.

“It’s never going to be zero property taxes, but it’s up to [50%], based on the certain amount of food you can produce.”

In places designated as food deserts, property owners would also get a bonus 10% exemption, up to a total of 60%. Martinez said the assembly is still awaiting an economic report, but that if 200-500 families took part in the incentive, the fiscal impact on the municipality would be less than 1%.

It’s something that Martinez has had his eye on long before the closure of the Carrs on Gambell Street, but due to that the “timing is perfect,” he said.

“When you see a supermarket closing in a neighborhood that is already food insecure – even more than the city itself – and then it shuts down,” Martinez said. “And it prompts these questions about how do those working families have access to reliable food.”

Martinez said he has worked with several community organizations, like Anchor Gardens and Yarducopia, who have helped outline what urban agriculture can look like.