Important Conversations From the Agricultural Outlook Forum
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In early February,Β I (Colton Jones), was asked to speak on a panel at the 2024 Agricultural Outlook Forum |Β USDA. I was invited by a good friend and Wild Idea advocate, Heather Dawn Thompson.Β ThompsonΒ is theΒ Director of the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR) for the United StatesΒ Department of Agriculture (USDA). She is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, aΒ Harvard Law School graduate, and an expert in American Indian law, tribal sovereignty, andΒ rural tribal economic development. Most recently, sheΒ served as a member of theΒ American Indian Law Practice Group at Greenberg Traurig, where she worked on federal IndianΒ law and Tribal agriculture. Thompson has a long record of public service, beginning as aΒ Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Justice. Since then, sheΒ hasΒ served as a law clerk with the Attorney Generalβs Office for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, asΒ Counsel and Policy Advisor to the United States Senate, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney forΒ South Dakotaβs Indian Country Section, where she prosecuted cases involving violence againstΒ women and children.
I was privileged to share the panel with two incredibly admirable individuals who are doingΒ some amazing work.
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Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson (Hopi) is the Assistant Specialist for the Indigenous ResiliencyΒ Center, University of Arizona. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University ofΒ Arizona, a Master of Public Policy from Pepperdine University, and a B.S. in Agriculture fromΒ Cornell University. Dr. Johnson is a faculty member and Assistance Specialist within the SchoolΒ of Natural Resources and the Environment. His primary work is with the Indigenous ResiliencyΒ Center. Michael is also a co-author on the Indigenous Chapter in the National ClimateΒ Assessment Five. His newest initiative is the call for the Restoration of the American IndianΒ Food System based on the stewardship principles of Indigenous conservation. Most importantly,Β he continues to practice Hopi dry farming, a practice of his people for millennia.
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Linda Black Elk is Director of Education for the North American Traditional Indigenous FoodΒ Systems. She is an ethnobotanist and food sovereignty activist specializing in teaching aboutΒ culturally important plants and their uses as food and medicine. She is eternally grateful for theΒ intergenerational knowledge of elders and other knowledge holders, who have shared theirΒ understandings of the world with her, and she has dedicated her life to giving back to theseΒ peoples and their communities.Β Linda and her family have also been spearheading a grassroots effort to provide organic,Β traditional, shelf stable food and traditional Indigenous medicines to elders and others in need.Β She has written numerous articles, book chapters, and papers, and is the author of βWatotoΒ Unyutapiβ, a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people.Β When she isnβt teaching,
Linda spends her time foraging, hiking, hunting, and fishing on the prairies and waters of theΒ northern Great Plains with her husband and three sons, who are all members of the OcetiΒ Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires of the Lakota.Β The discussion revolved around correlations between regenerative agriculture, indigenousΒ knowledge and tackling climate change.
Much like Wild Ideaβs mission, these things play a roleΒ in what Dr. Johnson and Linda are focusing on in their respective fields. I was given theΒ opportunity to share how indigenous knowledge and regenerative agriculture have influenced theΒ evolution of Wild Idea Buffalo Coβs business model over time. We discussed the reciprocity thatΒ Native American people show not just to their relative the buffalo, but all other resources thatΒ sustain them. Respecting resources is also what Wild Ideaβs business model revolves around.Β This was the first time in the history of the USDA ag outlook forum that the Office of TribalΒ Relations made the agenda! After this yearsβ experience and the positive feedback I heard, I haveΒ confidence it will make next yearβs agenda as well!