SDI Representatives Attend Oneida Food Sovereignty Summit

Sustainability Education Coordinator Kate Flick and SDI Food Sovereignty Intern Lloyd Frieson attended a Food Sovereignty Summit this April and came back with fresh with ideas to implement at the CMN greenhouse and garden areas. 

The Summit took place in Green Bay from April 15-18, 2013 and was a collaboration between the Oneida Nation, First Nations Development Institute, Intertribal Agriculture Council and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.  It offered three focused tracks in Sustainable Agricultural Practices, Community Outreach and Development, and Business Management, Finance, and Marketing.  The summit featured different ways Nations across the country were engaging in food sovereignty projects and even provided food from several tribal agricultural operations including walleye, wild rice, salmon, and white corn.

Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, gave a keynote address that encouraged people to claim back their food system because it is intrinsically linked to cultural identity.  “Our knowledge system is who we are.  It’s been colonized.," said LaDuke, "We must recover our relationship to time…our sacred food allows us to be who we are.  The Creator did not instruct us to go to Walmart and shop.  Most of us have become people who shop…I don’t think we can say we’re sovereign unless we can feed ourselves”

LaDuke also linked our food systems to climate change and peak oil.  She noted that the food system is dependent on oil; as oil price goes up, food price goes up.  “We are shackling ourselves to a dangerous situation," said LaDuke, "-food insecurity.”

SDI representative Kate Flick presented on a panel about Engaging Native Youth in Agriculture and spoke to her efforts with the USDA POSOH project—designing place-based agriculture centered curriculum, working with college student interns, and engaging high school students in the Sustainability Leadership Cohort.  Several people were curious on the trend towards the technology needs, identities, and addictions of the high school generation with hands-on agricultural work. “Technology is never inherently good or bad," said Flick, " It’s a question of whether the technology can be used to engage critical thinking, rather than mindless use. A book can be mindless." With the video project, the high school students will work on in the cohort in which they implement a project and tell their story. "I am hoping that we can use technology as a tool to empower thought and action while also demonstrating a lifestyle that doesn't need to be “plugged-in” 100% of the time," said Flick.

After the summit, Lloyd reflected on the power of meeting with other people working on food sovereignty, “For me it was very informative and there was a lot of camaraderie with the other Nations.  It helps create a network while also learning about different [food] systems," said Frieson, "There was this guy from New Mexico and he had these big gardens, but they hardly get any water that way.  I’ll go next year just to catch up with some people and see what new projects are brewing.”

Many thanks to the Summit sponsors and organizers, as well as the Nations who provided food for the event from their agricultural operations.