Indigenous approach to agriculture could change our relationship to food, help the land

Indigenous Approach to Farming in Wisconsin: A Sustainable Development Perspective

ONEIDA, Wis. — Everyone puts their own spin on braiding corn husks. 

Toni House offered this wisdom the first day of October as she and a partner wove 65 ears of Tuscarora white corn into a hefty, impressive braid.

When finished, they held the braid high – prompting a cheer from those around them – and carried it into a nearby barn, where it will hang to dry until spring, when it will be used for mush, cornbread, and corn soup.

House is a member of Ohe·láku, a co-op of Oneida Nation families that grow white corn on reservation land. What began as an experiment has blossomed into a robust organization; members even shared a stage with Willie Nelson when Farm Aid came to Wisconsin in 2019. 

The Indigenous Approach to Agriculture

The ritual of husking, braiding, and hanging corn signifies more than just the start of the harvest season.

It reflects the Indigenous approach to agriculture. It’s community.

“That’s the medicine of it,” House said. 

Many Wisconsin tribes have renewed an interest in farming as a way to reconnect with their cultural history and regain ownership of their food supply. They hold deep respect for the crops they grow, speak often about the relationship between humans and plants, and make decisions based on preserving a way of life for future generations. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

What’s become apparent to both tribal leaders and an increasing number of outsiders is the gulf between how Indigenous people approach the land and the typical approach of American farming – maximizing yield, prioritizing profit, a “go big or get out” mentality, said Lea Zeise, who co-founded Ohe·láku in 2016. 

Food isn’t just a commodity for tribes

Sydney Colwell, who manages community gardening efforts for the Ho-Chunk Housing and Community Development Agency in Tomah, Wisconsin, said she was taught as a child that her food had feelings. 

“If we nurture it and take care of it, it’ll take care of us,” she said. 

Unlike the norms of conventional agriculture, tribal farmers have a spiritual relationship with their crops.

Today, many tribes have a long-term goal of achieving food sovereignty, or the ability to control their agriculture and food supply systems, ensuring healthy and culturally appropriate food.

That was a key reason the Forest County Potawatomi Community in northeast Wisconsin started its farm, Bodwéwadmi Ktëgan, near Laona in 2017, said farm manager Dave Cronauer. Today, they grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, including Potawatomi watermelon and pole beans; raise beef cattle and bison; and have an orchard and an aquaponics facility on site. 

Tribal growers seek long-term sustainability

Daniel Hayden, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been working with the co-op on one of its fields since 2019, testing different cover crop mixes to restore the soil, which had been depleted under prior ownership. He has roots in the Comanche, Pawnee, and Muscogee (Creek) nations and understands the co-op’s relationship to the corn.

Systemic barriers disrupt the relationship between tribes and their land

Today, there are about 80,000 producers across the country who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 agriculture census, the most recent available. That year, they contributed roughly $3.5 billion to the industry, a small share of the $389 billion in agricultural products produced across the U.S.

But Indigenous growers have faced discrimination from government agencies meant to provide assistance. In 2010, the USDA agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Native American farmersSDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article:

1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger
2. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
3. SDG 13: Climate Action
4. SDG 15: Life on Land

Specific Targets Based on the Article’s Content:

• SDG 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
• SDG 12.6: Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
• SDG 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• SDG 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.

Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article:

• Indicator 2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
• Indicator 12.6.1: Number of companies publishing sustainability reports
• Indicator 13.1.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
• Indicator 15.2.1: Progress towards sustainable forest management

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: usatoday.com

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