According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources: in recognition of Alaska Agriculture Day, May 5, the public was invited to submit nominations for the 27th Annual Farm Family of the Year Award. The Division of Agriculture and the Alaska State Fair established the award in 2000, with support from Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union. This award honors an Alaska farm family that epitomizes the spirit of the industry, and highlights hardworking Alaskans committed to agriculture or mariculture. Nominations must include details on how the farm family fulfills the following criteria: production of quality Alaska Grown products, Involvement in agriculture industry organizations, Community engagement and positive leadership, Overall farm family image, farming history, and unique or special production.
Al Poindexter and his family, owners and operators of the Anchor Point Greenhouse recently received the Alaska Department of Natural Resources 2026 Farm Family of the Year Award. The Anchor Point Greenhouse, started in 1976 celebrates their 50th Anniversary this year. Poindexter grew up in Seward on a chicken farm with 17,000 chickens that “basically supplied the whole state with eggs.” Poindexter provided some history of the greenhouse that originally started with attempts at selling tomatoes and other types of plants and how his father and the greenhouse originally started producing and selling Fishy Peat Potting Soil that continues to this day:
“…after about six or seven years, he invented a potting soil he called Fishy Peat, and he put it in little bread bags and hauled it around to every store and asked for a shelf space and split the money if they sold it. If not, they could use it in their garden. And finally, the people growing marijuana discovered that it grew marijuana really well, and so then that business was launched and we were selling fishy peat all over the place,” Poindexter said.
Fishy Peat was originally started using raw fish and now it's dehydrated fish meal that’s dried and bagged out of Kodiak.
“We were using raw fish for a while, but when you get raw fish, you have to compost it right away, which is the middle of the summer. And we have rain events, and we couldn't use the inside of the greenhouse because we're using it for other things. And so we had maggots and flies, and we had rain events that killed the compost, and we were having a rough time. So, we started getting bagged fish meal. That way, every batch is measured out exactly the same,” Poindexter said.
So, what have been some of the biggest changes you've seen over the last 50 years?
“Well, first of all, potting soil sales have steadily increased, and I think that's due to the hoop house craze when they first started doing hoop houses. NRCS provided free greenhouses for anybody that wanted them, and so that was spread all over the state. And then that increased AG interest, and then more and more people started growing. That's one thing. We couldn't sell produce at the beginning, and we struggled doing things with farmers' markets and everything else. And eventually, we got a following here, so we sell most of our produce right here,” Poindexter said.
Poindexter also has a personal history in Kenai Peninsula public education. He has a degree in education with concentrations in physical education and biology. In addition to teaching physical education he was instrumental in developing the Kenai Peninsula’s agricultural components of vocational education.
Poindexter said he received multiple nominations for the 2026 award. Nominations are peer reviewed and selected by leaders in Alaska’s agriculture industry. Poindexter’s award was announced on August 5th.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
