October 24, 2025 Update first published June 5, 2020—Former senator from the MatSu Valley AK agriculture breadbasket, Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s Administration has ignored food security needs of the people of Alaska, instead seeking a bureaucratic enrichment over real food security.
While the State of Alaska does not have a Department of Agriculture, it does maintain a Division of Agriculture under the management of the Department of Natural Resources. When issuing the executive order, Governor Dunleavy argued that the establishment of a Department of Agriculture separate from the Department of Natural Resources would “encourage the development of expertise, eliminate duplication of functions, and establish a single point of responsibility for state agriculture policy.”
[1] Alaska Supreme Court Rules Dunleavy’s Creation of Department of Agriculture Unlawful, Natalie Spaulding, Must Read Alaska, January 7, 2026
https://donnliston907.substack.com/publish/post/170935858
Anybody running for next governor affiliated with this failed administration should not be considered as a candidate.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an Executive Order to Create an Alaska Department of Agriculture after the AK Legislature previously denied it. This is a foolish, politically-motivated act and will not contribute to more Alaska Food Security.
This story reviews 1) a recent time when AK food security was truly challenged by emergencies, 2) why more State of Alaska employees are not the answers to Alaska food security, and 3) what was required when Alaska once HAD food security with minimal State bureaucracy.
More Bureaucracy Serves Backwaters Juneau, NOT Alaskans
Alaska's Capital, Juneau is accessible only by air or water at great expense for Alaskans. Elected officials isolated from constituents practice Machiavellianism here to serve Special Interests.
[2] Juneau’s Machiavellian Dysfunction (MD), DONN LISTON August 5, 2025
Live Links in References
Alaskans know when calamity strikes, we can expect to see responding events happen fast. The November 2018 earthquake was such a wake up call–and the pandemic of 2020 further drove the fact home:
Alaskans are NOT Food Secure
Some individuals may be food secure–due to special efforts–but an estimated $3 Billion worth of beef, pork and chicken are shipped to Alaska for food consumption every year, according to Greg Giannulis, who has owned and operated Mike’s Quality Meats in Eagle River now 35 years.
When I bought the business I couldn’t afford to change the sign so I kept it as Mike’s Meats, Giannulis joked from behind his desk at 12110 Business Park Blvd. in Eagle River.
This writer met with Giannulis for this interview the last Saturday in May (2020) while he was also running things between answering my questions. A brusque Greek Immigrant, Giannulis told me he started his Alaska adventure buying lambs and butchering them as specialty meats. He had worked in a slaughterhouse and was trained in the old country. Today he owns the original storefront retail meat store, with warehouses nearby, Rocket Ranch in Palmer, and for more than three years the USDA certified Mt. McKinley Meats and Sausage (MMMS) plant in the industrial park near the Palmer Fairgrounds. This is the only USDA meat processing plant in Southcentral Alaska and Giannulis bought it out of necessity.
Q: As a meat retailer you already used the State-owned Mt McKinley Meats as your slaughterhouse?
A: Yes, they were my slaughterhouse. So, one day I called down there and told them I have two loads of beef, 80 beef I need processed. They replied: “No way in hell can we do it!” The following week I needed some pigs processed and they said “We cannot take five pigs for two or three weeks.”
Q: So you had to pay to maintain those animals over that time?
A: Yes, they were costing me money. So I got mad; I don’t need another business, I’ve got enough to do, but you play with my money and I will do something. They kept telling me they will prioritize my needs but it was all double-talk. Five valley farmers were trying to buy the plant but they cannot even raise a $10,000 deposit to make an offer between them!
Food for thought for Alaskans
From another story:
Over the time period from 1997 to 2007, the amount of farmlands in Alaska has increased by one-tenth of one percent. The size of farms has decreased overall, with farms less than 100 acres increasing by more than 30 percent. With the exception of farms 500 to 999 acres (-8%), other categories of farm size decreased by more than 25 percent. The trend is showing a shift toward smaller farms, with most farms less than 100 acres in size in 2007.Hobby Farms Abound but Contribute Little to AK Food Security in Population Centers
[3] Alaska’s Soviet-Style Food Security Program DONN LISTON June 13, 2023
Live Links in References
So, Giannulis Bought the Plant
Once awarded the bid, Giannulis paid for the plant with a cashier’s check for the full amount; $300,000. He says he has put two times that much into upgrading it to standards he has always maintained for his products. He credits his team of managers for being successful over the many years.
And, MMMS has made a profit every year since the State of Alaska (SOA) was finally able to divest itself of this government-run money pit.
Imagine that!
And, the Enterprise Owned by Giannulis Provided an AK Safety Net
With the Earthquake (of November 2018) the shelves of local stores were empty for a
week or two! Giannulis reflected. Now with the pandemic, meat is essential and nobody has enough. The supermarkets even limit how much you can buy, he continued. So, I am the only place you can buy as much meat as you want directly available; Mikes Meats, Valley Meats in Wasilla, Echo Lake Lockers in Kenai, Carr-Gottstein and Three Bears, because I have a processing plant–which is essential to Alaska Food Security.He continued: When the pandemic was announced, suddenly nobody had meat. I closed because I didn’t want customers coming in and out, but I had meat for Alaskans (In two warehouses!)
In fact, Giannulis continues: Within 30 days after the pandemic hit I slaughtered every available animal in Alaska. They gathered them up and I got them all processed. I also pulled beef from Washington, I pulled from Canada; I received a truckload last Monday, beautiful beefs, and I have them processed already on Saturday, and the plant is totally clean and ready for next week. I have a few here now and another truckload coming next week—30 or 40 of them.
This is Commercial Agriculture and it is what Alaska must pursue for food security. In TWO TERMS Dunleavy has done Nothing Meaningful for AK Food Security.
Dunleavy admits it and threw the hot potato to Sen. Shelley Hughes:
36 People are on Gov. Dunleavy’s Ag Task Force because do nothing committees keep the invisible hand of Seattle in control of Alaska’s economy from Backwaters Juneau.
On April 21, 2022 Gov. Dunleavy issued Proclamation 334 expanding previous Proclamation 331 to expand the mission of AK Food Security to the AK Department of Commerce and Economic Development: The goals of this Order are to increase food security, strengthen local economies, and lessen Alaska’s dependence on external foods and supply chains.
Guess how Gov. Dunleavy–previous Senator from the AK agriculture heartland Mat-Su Valley–proposes to do that?
From that Proclamation: Currently, approximately 95 percent of the food Alaskans purchase is imported, costing roughly two billion dollars annually. This is an enormous wealth transfer from Alaskans to outside entities. During the COVID-19 pandemic global supply chains have been stressed. Furthermore, Alaska is at the end of the supply chain for goods and food coming from the West Coast. At the height of the pandemic, the Port of Seattle was on the brink of closing, which would have drastically impacted the ability for shipping carriers to bring goods and food to Alaska. Most recently, the logistical shock has rippled into grocery stores and family homes across the State, with food and other essentials becoming difficult to obtain due to restrictions on overland trucking between Canada and the United States.
[4] Legislative Task Force to Assure AK Food Security, DONN LISTON, Feb 27, 2024
Live Links in References
Prior to this governor, former Alaska Division of Agriculture Asset Manager, Ray Nix witnessed the failed efforts of the SOA to make the Palmer slaughterhouse viable over his career. In retirement now, Nix continues to be a trusted advisor to Giannulis, and joined our discussion.
Greg needed to control his own destiny, Nix clarified. Adding a slaughterhouse assured processing of animals for his retail business. When it was operated by the State he had no control over production levels. He couldn’t go after additional markets if they wouldn’t kill his animals. So, he got plans and was looking to build a slaughterhouse, when he was approached (by the SOA) about the potential of buying this facility.
Nix: There were some negotiations between Greg and the State, and there was a lot of investment that had to be done to this facility, and Greg made a cash offer. It had to be done correctly for the State to transfer ownership, and ultimately Gov. Bill Walker said: “You need to privatize it. It isn’t going to be open, it isn’t going to be funded, you need to privatize it.”
In December of 2016 the next offer by Greg was accepted. He took possession in May, 2017.
Nix continued: Keep in mind–that place had been offered so many times, when I was employed at the Division of Agriculture doing the offerings, it was obvious that for that facility to work it had to go to somebody with the background and capital to not just pay the utilities—because that was expense enough—but to pay for the operating expenses. Nobody would propose to do that—if you spent a lot of money to purchase the plant you would need to have the additional amounts available for operation to make it viable.
This was a SOA Asset being pissed away and when somebody capable took it over all the big talker AK government grant farmers became resentful they would need to pay for these services—instead of using state workers and prisoners like they do in our Communist neighbor Russia’s top-down economy.
Nix explained the capitalist vision:
The primary purpose to privatize was to 1. Get the state out of the business because they weren’t running it effectively, and 2. Maintain the USDA stamp for Southcentral Alaska—that is the key to growth of agriculture in Alaska.
Another Likely SOA Boondoggle
We who have witnessed the State of Alaska go from being a broke new state on the federal teat, to rich beyond our imaginations from the single resource of oil, have also noted the many investment boondoggles endured. Most were agricultural pie-in-the-sky failures. So it isn’t too much of a reach to see that this Palmer slaughterhouse was headed to the same place—as a good idea proposed by people with good intentions.
In fact, AK Division of Ag STILL promotes setting up this facility as a co-op for hobby farmers. But Borden’s scam assures ownership remains in the hands of Giannulis under lease, and nobody talks to him while the facility loses money, and bureaucrats continue dreaming and scheming.
How Did the SOA First Get Entangled in this Business?
A 2003 study by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture, examined this state-owned slaughterhouse and what might save it.
A Business Planning Team, led by John Torgerson, Acting Director for the Division of Agriculture, and including staff members Marian Romano-Development Specialist, Melanie Trost-Development Specialist, Ed Arobio-Natural Resource Manager, and Dennis Wheeler-Attorney, resulted in a final report produced by Romano and Trost. The Team used data currently available from staff and stakeholders and research previously completed. Some primary research was conducted. This Team analyzed all the available data and made recommendations to the Director for each issue addressed.
From that report:
Historical
PerspectiveThe Mt McKinley Meat and Sausage Company (MMMS) was originally constructed as part of an ambitious plan to radically expand agriculture through state supported infrastructure development in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It was financed with $2 million of Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund (ARLF) monies in 1983 and then further financed with private funds of $1.2 million, to support cashflow.
A combination of factors, including an economic downturn predicated by reduced oil prices, a precipitous drop in grain prices, and a change of administration brought about the abandonment of the concept of agricultural infrastructure expansion by Gov. Steve Cowper. Many projects were abandoned, such as the grain elevator in Seward and the slaughterhouse facility in Fairbanks. Dairy farms went into foreclosure, as did the MMMS. The ARLF, in second position to the private lender, purchased the (MMMS) asset in a foreclosure sale in 1985 at the end of the Administration of Gov. Bill Sheffield.
Once the SOA abandoned “agricultural infrastructure expansion” Alaska farmers were on their own with the Division of Agriculture doing a lot of hand-wringing. Further, this is how SOA bureaucrats envisioned in that report the future of an uneconomic MMMS subsidized by SOA:
The plant remained closed for several months, then was reopened in 1987 in conjunction with Department of Corrections (DOC), Alaska Correctional Industries (ACI) as a training and rehabilitation facility. The plant has operated under this scenario since then, with the original intention to transition it into private hands. Several attempts to lease the facility have been unsuccessful.
Over time, in an effort to reach break-even status, the plant has regained its USDA inspection status, added custom cut and wrap services, counted on the settlement of Mental Health Trust lands to increase livestock production, began selling to institutions, purchased boxed meats to augment those sales, and intervened to prevent private sellers from selling products at distressed rates that undercut MMMS prices to institutions. Each of these action steps was intended to be the solution to the problem of operating losses; none were.
MMMS has traditionally not met its operating expenses, not including DOC and ACI staff, until FY 2003. In FY 2003 and 2004, as the result of budget cuts, the Commissioner of DOC asked the Director of Agriculture to reimburse the cost of ACI and DOC staff as well as operating shortfalls. As a result of these new costs to the shrinking ARLF, from which monies come to support both the Division of Agriculture and MMMS, the Director has decided to look at alternative operating options for the plant.
As a result of this quest for other options, the following information has been gathered in order to have accurate, current data upon which to base future decisions.
A look back at various public hearings and Board of Agriculture meetings finds a series of common solutions that come to the forefront at each meeting. Recurring and persistent recommendations for success of the MMMS plant have been:
• Increased hog production• A co-op to operate the facility
• A private person to operate the facility
• Diversification of the plant
These researchers in 2003 found there was no record of MMMS production levels for five years:
[5] Mt. McKinley Meats and Sausage Review and Recommendations Final Report 2003
Live Links in References
Still this asset of the State continued to lose in excess of $100,000/year as documented in a white paper written by Nix:
[6] Nix White Paper
Live Links in References
Upon taking over the MMMS Facility Giannulis eliminated all State Correctional Managers and criminals in rehabilitation.
A Prudent Alaska Elected Official Might Ask: How MIGHT a Department of Agriculture have done anything Differently or made ANY Difference?
(That is obviously what the AK Legislature also asked Dunleavy.)
[7] Alaska Farm Bureau, overview of facility. 2016
Live Link in References
Private Ownership Success!
Giannulis was processing an estimated 100-150 animals per week. He brings them from anyplace he can get them, using his own truck and trailers. He buys from sources Outside that supply him through Seattle. There are not enough cattle being raised in Alaska to keep this facility in business for more than one month.
He has said he could process 350-700 animals per week.
After four years Giannulis put this facility up for sale and listed it and other properties worth some $3.5 million with Atlanta, GA-based Real Estate huckster, Bill Borden, dba High Caliber Realty, Inc. (sic). Borden had reportedly previously sold an elk farm in the valley to wealthy hobby farmers in Illinois. But instead of making a clean sale for an honest commission with MMMS, Borden created an Alaska Corporation having NO ASSETS and arranged an 85% interest in a 5-year LEASE obligation for North Pole, AK Hog farmers Todd and Sherrie Elsberry. Borden cut himself in for 14% ownership without telling Giannulis as listing agent of his backdoor deal.
Borden is a long-time political supporter of Mike Dunleavy and both love to grandstand.
From another story:
Borden publicly professed to sell the Mt McKinley Meats & Sausages Palmer slaughterhouse in a ceremony with Gov. Mike Dunleavy in attendance, including a lot of associated hoopla by the Alaska Farm Bureau.
Bill Borden and Greg Giannulis were in high spirits after announcement in November 2021 that the only USDA-Certified slaughterhouse in Southcentral Alaska had been sold. Spirits changed when Giannulis learned Borden had cut himself a 14% interest in the company making the lease offer (misrepresented publicly as a purchase offer) without Bordon revealing this personal financial interest to Giannulis. Today the plant still belongs to Gianullis--lock, stock, and barrel—but of course Gov. Dunleavy’s appointed Attorney General Treg Taylor is busy chasing butterflies before the USSC, and explaining to citizens why the Constitution doesn’t really guarantee Alaskans can take wrongdoing by public officials to the Grand Jury without his department henchmen’s permission.
[8] Food Security Scam Hurts Alaskans, DONN LISTON October 16, 2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/10/food-security-scam-hurts-alaskans/
This Community Town Hall is part of a long-running effort by honorable Alaskans around the state to require the Alaska Department of Law, in collusion with the Alaska Court System, to adhere to the Constitution regarding grand jury investigation into wrongdoing by public officials.
David Haeg presents demand to the Kenai Court for Investigation into Marla Greenstein, administrator of the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct protecting corrupt judges since when the EXXON Valdez tanker caused the Prince William Sound oil spill (1989). Witnesses were Don Fritz, Holly Sheldon Lee, Ed Martin and Garrett Ennis.
Why AK Prosecutors are Afraid of Grand Juries
Criminal indictment against Retired Judge Margaret Murphy has been dropped on technicalities that deny her prima facia criminal act of perjury found by a Grand Jury. Nobody should be surprised that these lawyers in black robes take care of each other regardless of the law while normalizing Alaska’s top of the nation record crime rate.
When the people who are supposed to enforce Alaskan Laws break those laws with impunity, we can expect more lawlessness. Smart people do not consider moving to Alaska and smart people who live there are leaving.
[9] Why AK Prosecutors are Afraid of Grand Juries DONN LISTON March 06, 2024
Live Links in References
Alaskans Must Speak Up Against Incompetence/Corruption
Giannulis: We need more cattle to be raised in Alaska. A billion and a half per year is being spent outside just for beef.
Nix: That means more acres of land available. We need to have the Alaska Department of Natural Resources provide grazing lands with Ag Rights only. You cannot sell it, you cannot develop it, you can only graze domestic animals on it. From the Division of Ag we knew we have very limited Ag land available. There is a piece up north–about 125,000 acres–some out at Fish Creek and other scattered spots, but it’s not the best ag land and it isn’t being utilized. Bridges need to be built. Ag land is a tremendously costly part, getting it ready for use—even grazing—is expensive. So for sustainability DNR needs to authorize land for agriculture purposes.
Giannulis: What they offer now is 600-acre parcels. That doesn’t mean anything; you need 4-5 acres per animal, so how many animals can you raise on 600 acres? We need 20,000. 30,000, 50,000 acres for viability as Commercial Agriculture.
In fact, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has sabotaged attempts to farm what once was ag land that supported 4,000-5,000 head of cattle during WWII in Kodiak.
The State of Alaska has a high opinion of the value of Agriculture Land, which includes Agricultural Homesteads with Agricultural Rights Only, and Fee Simple land with Agricultural Covenants. Perhaps that is why so little ag land is in production in Alaska. It is just too valuable to allow much of it to be used to FEED PEOPLE.
After some 20 years of running cattle on a longstanding state grazing lease going back to before statehood, Flickinger is going through a difficult lease renewal with SOA Masters.
When we first got here the Director of Agriculture called the shots on grazing leases, explained Flinkinger. When that responsibility switched to the Division of Mining, Land and Water things changed. State terms for these grazing leases were 25 years, which was reduced from the BLM Leases of 30+ years. I was one of the last of the renewals to re-apply when our 24-year lease came up–4-5 years ago–and they told me they were giving me a 10-year lease. I told them: “I am appealing that because I have a lot of fence to build and I’m not doing that monetary stuff on a 10 year plan.”
We remain year-to-year now,” he said, we just keep paying the lease bill and they keep accepting our payment. Flinkinger adds: Everything is wearing out around here and we cannot do a major infrastructure rebuild on fences or anything on a year-to-year–or even a 10-year plan. I just need the state to renew my lease and get out of the way.
[10] The Sorry State of Alaska Agriculture: Kodiak Island Area Beef DONN LISTON March 11, 2021
Live Links in References
Giannulis has Studied how the Canadian Agriculture Program Works.
Mostly we need State policy that will allow us to feed ourselves, continued Giannulis. I have traveled to Canada five times and spent a week each time to see how their agriculture business works. The smallest farm is 10,000 acres. They have 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 acre farms raising animals for meat. They produce anything and they make a lot of money because they don’t have the BS that farmers suffer with from the government here. They raise a lot of animals and we bring some of them here for processing.
Alaskans are due to break our oil dependency as elected officials spend every penny they can get their hands on when they go to Juneau to serve Special Interests. As happened with the Gold Rush of the early 1900s, this state may some day again be home for people living here for the long haul instead of only on their Alaska Adventures.
With elections coming in one year, perhaps now is the time for Alaskans to demand AK Elected Officials force State government to serve residents with basics required for the Alaskan lifestyle—including safety and food security—as it once did.
Resources:
[1] Alaska Supreme Court Rules Dunleavy’s Creation of Department of Agriculture Unlawful, Natalie Spaulding, Must Read Alaska, January 7, 2026
https://donnliston907.substack.com/publish/post/170935858
[2] Juneau’s Machiavellian Dysfunction (MD), DONN LISTON August 5, 2025
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/juneaus-machiavellian-dysfunction?r=q57oe&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
[3] Alaska’s Soviet-Style Food Security Program DONN LISTON June 13, 2023
https://donnliston907.substack.com/publish/post/170935947
[4] Legislative Task Force to Assure AK Food Security, DONN LISTON, Feb 27, 2024
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/legislative-task-force-to-assure-alaska-food-security
[5] Mt. McKinley Meats and Sausage Review and Recommendations Final Report 2003
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/ag/MMMS/MMMSReviewandRecommendationsFinalReport120103.pdf
[6] AK Division of Agriculture White Paper February 17, 2009
dnr.alaska.gov/ag/MMMS/MMMSWhitePaperFINAL02172009.pdf
[7] Alaska Farm Bureau overview of facility-Mt McKinley Meats, October 9, 2015
http://dnr.alaska.gov/ag/BAC/AKFARMBUREAUMMMS.pdf
[8] Food Security Scam Hurts Alaskans, DONN LISTON October 16, 2024
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/food-security-scam-hurts-alaskans
[9] Why AK Prosecutors are Afraid of Grand Juries DONN LISTON March 06, 2024
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/why-ak-prosecutors-are-afraid-of-grand-juries
[10] The Sorry State of Alaska Agriculture: Kodiak Island Beef DONN LISTON March 11, 2021
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/kodiak-island-area-beef-production
Fascinating subject, I had never considered such a common sense aspect of Alaskan life. Bringing aspects like this into focus really helps to see things more clearly.