Though Indigenous agricultural practices and generations-old traditions are rarely codified by federal or academic institutions, they are often some of the most effective sustainable practices given their ecological and historical grounding. Dedicated federal funding can be a crucial method for supporting the elevation and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices informed by Indigenous tradition.

Like other experience-built sustainable agriculture methods, traditional Indigenous knowledge and agricultural practices often operate outside of federally-supported frameworks. Sustainable methods are built through generations of direct experience and grounded in practical context, rather than academic abstraction. Indigenous agricultural practices and traditions are frequently passed by word of mouth or direct generational instruction. As a result, they are often given less credence by government or academic institutions.

Funding Legacies of Sustainability

Though many Indigenous producers are centered on the use and instruction of traditional practices, they are not the only ones who can support the protection and promotion of traditional knowledge and sustainable practices. Both the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska’s Center for Excellence for Regenerative Native Agriculture (CERNA) and the San Xavier Cooperative Association provide examples of the benefits of federal grant program support, which aids Indigenous communities that may be marginalized and under-resourced. Read more