An Alaska Farmer's Unlikely Bet on Growing Corn

Tarn Coffey is an Anchorage-based entrepreneur who made an unlikely bet: growing sweet corn commercially in Nenana, Alaska. After noticing that the region's long summer days produced enough heat to mature corn outdoors, Coffey spent a decade growing it in his backyard before scaling up. In 2022 he won 225 acres of state land at auction and planted his first commercial crops in spring 2023.

Coffey's ambitions extend well beyond corn — he envisions eventually growing hay, bell peppers, and a range of other crops on the new acreage. His story reflects a broader effort by state officials and entrepreneurs to develop interior Alaska's underutilized agricultural potential, challenging the assumption that the Far North is inhospitable to serious farming.

Alaska imports 95 percent of its food, and the state's boldest answer is auctioning farmland where almost nobody farms. Anchorage entrepreneur Tarn Coffey won five parcels totaling about 225 acres near Nenana in 2022 and had the project's first corn in the ground by May 2023 KTVF; by 2025 the family planted 10 acres of sweet corn. Neighbors warned from the start that the soils run marginal and the state risked repeating its failed Delta barley scheme of the 1980s. The wager expands: the project spans 140,000 acres and a second sealed bid auction opened June 10, 2026 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Buyers must clear a quarter of their usable acreage within five years; watch whether they get there.